Mayor’s bright idea for LED street lights
Council proposal to take control of infrastructure
TOOWOOMBA Mayor Paul Antonio has put forward his bid for local governments to control all of the region’s street lighting infrastructure.
Cr Antonio officially submitted his proposed motion to the Local Government Association of Queensland last week, in a move designed to improve energy efficiency and save ratepayer money.
The proposal, now endorsed by the rest of the council this week, will be considered at the LGAQ Conference in Gladstone.
Cr Antonio said he wanted street lighting infrastructure transferred from the control of Energy Queensland into a new entity controlled by local government.
“Opportunities exist for local governments to make substantial energy savings and advances in smart city technologies if street lighting infrastructure is within their own control,” the motion read.
“Progress in this direction is limited by Energy Queensland’s ownership of much of this infrastructure and its unwillingness to consider alternative arrangements, such as those recently proposed by LGAQ.
“One of the simplest options to achieve savings and improve service to residents is in upgrading street lighting with LED devices.
“Longer life and reduced power consumption of LED lighting produces rapid cost savings.”
Cr Antonio told The Chronicle he had interested parties who were willing to install next-generation street lights in Toowoomba, which would reduce the council’s power bill significantly.
“The potential is there not only to have efficient street light, but a whole range of things can be implemented like wi-fi and security,” he said.
“We can reduce our electricity costs by 60%, you can go to 70% if you’ve got movement sensors installed, so you can save more again.”
Local Government Minister Mark Furner said the State Government would look at any reasonable motion proposed.
“If the proposal is sound, I’ll definitely promote that, because we need to assist our councils, regardless of whether it’s Toowoomba or any of the other councils around the state, to make sure those infrastructure programs are getting up,” he said.
State Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls also expressed interest in the proposal during his visit to Toowoomba on Friday.