Council to spend £24m on 64,000 LED street lamps

West Sussex County Council has approved additional funding for the project

West Sussex County Council is to spend more than £24m converting 64,000 street lights to LED lanterns.

The change is expected to save the council more than £117million in maintenance and energy costs, and cut carbon emissions by 1,633 tonnes per year, by 2028/29.

The initial cost was expected to be about £20.9million but has increased since the plan was first tabled in 2019. An additional £3.28m for the project was approved on Wednesday.

Work is expected to start in May, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

Converting the thousands of lights will reduce light pollution by directing it on to the road and pavement where it is needed, rather than upwards, the council said.

As well as being energy efficient, LEDs last much longer than regular street lights and are less likely to fail.

The project will include a central monitoring system which will allow the lighting to be operated remotely – dimming or brightening them as necessary.

The plan has been six years in the making, but was delayed due to Covid and complex negotiations regarding changes to the current Street Lighting Private Finance Initiative contract.