In 2010, the council awarded a 25-year contract worth £250m to Balfour Beatty to upgrade all the city’s street lights. This was completed within the first 5 years costing around £55m.
However, the street lights were recently upgraded again costing an extra £10m.
We asked the council to explain why it was necessary to replace all the city’s street lights again after only 10 years. This is because the typical life-span is supposed to be 20-25 years.
The council said:
“The lanterns installed at the start of the PFI Street Lighting contract are now starting to be discontinued and therefore becoming more difficult to source replacement parts and replacements.
“They have limited controllable technology and are less energy efficent than modern day LED Lanterns.
“The upgrade of the lanterns will allow the Council to reduce our energy charges, CO2 emissions and allow more control over the lighting.”
We are surprised and disappointed the council spent £55m on redundant street lights. We hope the new lanterns won’t also be discontinued soon.