Nottinghamshire County Council has signed off the final stages of a decade-long project to change nearly all of the streetlights in its area to LED.
Further spending of £2.1m approved by the council’s Cabinet will see 11,000 old lanterns in Bassetlaw district and Newark and Sherwood district changed to energy-saving LED bulbs, with works scheduled to finish in April 2023.
The programme started in 2014. By the time it finishes next year, 94,000 streetlights will have been switched to LED by the council’s highways team and Via East Midlands, the council-owned provider of highways and fleet management services in the county.
Neil Clarke MBE (pictured), cabinet member for transport and environment at Nottinghamshire CC, said the project had to date saved 90,000 tonnes of carbon and is a core part of the council’s pledge to become carbon natural by 2030.
He added that calculations show that the programme will save £2.2m per year in total across the county once complete, and from when work began in 2014 it will have saved around £15m by 2024.
Cllr Clarke said: ‘This is a huge win for protecting our precious environment and for taxpayers who expect their money to be spent wisely.
‘Meeting our Nottinghamshire Plan ambition to work towards a greener future for everyone is something I am determined to do.
‘I’m glad we can save this money through this innovative project - it means we can invest it back into vital services in challenging economic times.
'More than ever, it is essential that we work efficiently – as we have with the switch over to LEDs – to deliver high-quality public services.’
