City's £10m streetlighting upgrade set to begin

The first set of LED lights are due to arrive this week, with installation to begin soon after (stock photo)

The £10m upgrade of streetlights in Coventry is set to begin.

Energy-efficient LED "lanterns" will replace 28,847 traditional lights over the next two years, starting with those in the city centre.

Coventry City Council said the first of the new lanterns were due to arrive this week, with contractor Balfour Beatty just waiting on legal documents to be signed.

At a meeting of the communities and neighbourhoods scrutiny board, the council said the work will continue until November 2027.

The new LED lighting will use almost half the current amount of energy and lead to savings of £900,000 per year, said council officials last year.

Ravinder Sekhon, the city council's street lighting and support services manager, said the local authority was on target with its plans.

Speaking at the scrutiny board, she said: "Balfour Beatty have lanterns arriving, so as soon as things are signed, they will be rolling them out. They have employed subcontractors who are all geared up.

"The dates are indicative, and the list will be updated. It is a case of them dealing with things on the network like parked cars and access, and then there is an embargo around Christmas time. They need to factor all that in."

She said where some streets cross ward boundaries, they will still be completed.

Councillor Seyi Agboola asked why the Binley/Willenhall ward was at the bottom of the list, with work not expected to start there until August 2027.

The ward has 2,228 streetlights, second only to Henley ward, where there are 2,451.

Sekhon responded: "One of the things we had to take into consideration was the maintenance schedule and the quantity of lights in the wards and the amount of routes.

"It was decided to put it to the end because we could deal with it as a whole ward more effectively."

Sekhon said that the heritage lamps in the city centre will be excluded from the upgrade because they are more expensive to replace.

Options for these will be considered over the next two years.