Switching off street lights in South Gloucestershire saves £90,000 a year
Switching off street lights between midnight and 5am in South Gloucestershire have already saved council tax payers about £90,000 a year as well as reducing carbon emissions.
About 6,000 of the district's 29,500 street lights have been switched off since the scheme was adopted by the council in 2008.
By the time the scheme is fully implemented in October this year, about 60 per cent of the district's street lights, or about 20,000 lights, will have been switched to part night operation.
Once fully implemented, the scheme is expected to reduce the district's carbon emissions by a total of 2,000 tonnes a year – equivalent to the annual emissions of about 900 cars.
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It is also expected to reduce the council's energy bills by up to £250,000, or about a fifth of its total street lighting energy costs.
Head of StreetCare Mark King said: "Part-night lighting has been introduced gradually and with great care since the policy was first adopted with cross-party support in 2008.
"The safety and security of residents and road users is paramount and over a number of years we ran trials to make sure that the scheme would deliver the expected benefits without any adverse effects.
"The results to date show that part night lighting is working well in South Gloucestershire and we look forward to completing implementation of the scheme later this year."
Before implementation all lights are assessed to establish whether they are suitable for part-night operation. About 40 per cent of lights, including those near roundabouts, emergency services, sheltered housing and known areas of high crime, are automatically excluded from the scheme for safety or security reasons.
Comments
by fatboy67
Saturday, January 12 2013, 2:09PM
“Would it not be better for every other street light to be off in the small hour of the night. Certainly in residential areas as oposed to all lights off. As others have said do traffic lights really need to be on 3am nothing worse then waiting for them to go through their seqeance when you just wish to go to bed.”
by Bert_Hindle
Saturday, January 12 2013, 1:28PM
“Couldn't agree more about the sentiments of previous posters. Part-night operations of *most* traffic lights would have no adverse affect on safety but would save the council many of thousands extra, and reduce the pollution from people sitting with engines idling at red lights when no-one else is around.”
by KA12345
Saturday, January 12 2013, 12:44AM
“What about the many traffic lights that have been installed over last few years, many of them on roundabouts where they really have no use whatsoever!
I can think of 4 sets along the Ring Road (Longwell Green, Warmley, Staple Hill, Downend) - On some of the roundabouts along this route there are seven sets of lights at one junction, SEVEN - for one junction which all change colour together!!!!! What a colossal waste of taxpayers money!!!!!
Benefits of switching these lights off:
1. Reduce Pollution
2. Reduce energy bills for local authorities
3. Local authorities reduce their CO2 output
4. Motorists wont be frustrated at off peak hours waiting at red lights when no traffic flowing in other direction
5. Motorists get to their destinations quicker saving time
6. Motorists reduce CO2 emissions by not sat idling at traffic lights
7. Lights can be used at other locations to replace faulty lights thus saving taxpayers money.
All we need now is for the councillers to see sense and act.....”
by FADINGING
Friday, January 11 2013, 11:34PM
“How about switching off the traffic lights off from say 8pm to 6am”
by macadam212
Friday, January 11 2013, 5:00PM
“Would be nice to see the stars again - I hope this happens everywhere.”
by Hartman81
Friday, January 11 2013, 3:47PM
“Mark King and his StreetCare team should worry less about switching lights off and more about sorting out the dreadful condition of many residential roads in Filton. Some pot holes have grown in size so much in the last few weeks that they could be better described as craters!”