COVENTRY City Council’s Cabinet will be discussing plans to invest over £10million on upgrading the city’s streetlights.
Over 29,000 lights would be changed, in the longer term this investment would provide substantial economic and environmental benefits across the city.
The council’s energy bill for street lights was £3.4million in the last financial year.
If invested in, the LED lighting will use almost half the energy, resulting in energy and maintenance savings of £900,000 per year based on current costs.
The new lights last up to four times longer than the current lanterns as well as requiring far less maintenance.
LED lights would reduce carbon emissions for the city by 1,200 tonnes every year – equivalent to taking 268 cars off the road.
In a bid to take further advantage of technology the upgrade would see smart sensor ports installed in 20 per cent of the lanterns, which will allow the council to collect environmental data such as air quality, noise, or traffic flows, across the whole city.
Councillor Patricia Hetherton, cabinet member for city services, said: “This transformative project is another example of the city’s commitment to reducing carbon alongside the roll out of an all electric bus fleet in 2025 and the fact that we have more on street change points than any city outside London.
“The new LED bulbs will enable us to cut costs as well as reduce our carbon footprint and the smart technology in a fifth of the lanterns will allow us to monitor important environmental data across the city.
“Like every authority, we’re having to make some really tough decisions due to financial pressures.
“It’s a situation that requires us to think creatively about doing things differently. That’s exactly what we’re doing here, we’re investing in the short term to not only provide a better service but also a financially efficient one.”
If approved by Cabinet, they will be put forward for discussion at Full Council on the January 14 2025.
