Work underway to turn off street lighting to cut costs

North Yorkshire County Council announced yesterday (WED) that lighting column controls along the Selby bypass are being replaced at a cost of £36,000.

The move will lead to annual savings of about £18,000 a year when lights along sections of the A63 carriageway are turned off between midnight and 5am.

The council is due to embark on a four-year review next April to look at street lighting across North Yorkshire to cut costs and carbon emissions.

Once the review is completed, up to £400,000 could be cut from the council’s annual £1.5m bill for providing street lighting.

The council’s executive member for highways, Coun Gareth Dadd, stressed only street lighting which is deemed unnecessary will be turned off and road safety would not be jeopardised amid the cost-cutting measures.

He said: “Along with other authorities across the country, we are looking at road lighting policies to bring about significant savings in costs and energy consumption. We will be taking a pragmatic approach and a full consultation with the public and parish councils will be undertaken before any decision is reached.”

Coun Dadd stressed the decision to turn off lighting along sections of the Selby bypass had been taken after earlier consultations.

By the middle of next week, 220 lighting columns along the bypass will have new controls fitted so they turn off in the early hours of the morning.

Fewer than 160 vehicles use the bypass between midnight and 5am and road studs will be installed as an extra safety measure. All high risk areas such as roundabouts and junctions, together with the swing bridge, will remain fully illuminated.

The bypass was built by the Highways Agency in 2005 and lighting was placed along its entire 5.5-mile length. It has since come under the council’s management and lighting on the road accounts for two per cent of the authority’s street lighting energy bill.

The council is having to make £69m in savings across its services to counter the Government’s cuts.

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