This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
£38m project to upgrade streetlights to LEDs is 86 per cent complete
05/06/2023
Over 20 years savings of £75m are expected to be made
The conclusion of a £38m project will see all of Oxfordshire’s streetlights converted to energy efficient LED units in the next 12 months. The Oxfordshire County Council upgrade project began in 2021 and 86 per cent of the lights have now been converted.
When completed the project is expected to lead to energy savings of more than £75m over the next 20 years.
The LED lights will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide being produced by 70 per cent. Before the conversion programme started, the county’s streetlights accounted for around 7,596 tonnes of CO2 every year – representing nearly 35 per cent of the council’s total emissions.
As well as funding the LED conversions, the £38m is also enabling the replacement of 23,000 lighting columns, which are at the end of their structural life.
Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: “The LED streetlighting programme is biggest single project that we, as a council, are undertaking to reduce our own carbon emissions. So I am delighted it is on course to be completed next year, despite problems due to issues such as global material shortages.
“This will significantly help us to achieve our target of becoming a carbon neutral organisation by 2030 and save council taxpayers millions of pounds over the next two decades. It’s a real win-win.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam