New LED lights for Liverpool’s streets

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has revealed that a total of 15,000 street lights will be fitted with new LED lights over the next year as part of a multi-million pound energy saving scheme.

The £7 million programme, which began in 2014, is seeing Liverpool City Council move away from orange sodium lights in its drive to make Liverpool a greener city and cut the city’s carbon footprint. Since the programme began in Fazakerley, carbon emissions have been lowered by 1,500 tonnes.

Approximately £2.6 million is spent by Liverpool City Council per annum on the energy costs associated with running the 57,000 street lights and illuminated signs and bollards across the city.

The council is working with SSE Enterprise to roll out the new phase of LED street lighting, which will reduce the energy consumption for these lights by 82 per cent, cutting the council’s energy bill by a further £260,000 a year. There will also be a reduction in carbon of about 1,300 tonnes, bringing a saving of £21,000 and there will be maintenance savings of approximately £47,000 a year.

Anderson said: “LED street lighting not only improves the lighting across the city it makes our streets safer and our city cleaner. Already through phase one we have made our city a healthier place to live by saving 1,500 tonnes of carbon emissions and achieved savings of more than half a million pounds.

“Our maintenance costs will also reduce by £2.7 million overall over the next five years once all of the street lights have been converted. We can then reinvest this saving in to other key services and communities at a time when unprecedented cuts are forcing us to make some heart-breaking decisions.”