The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Millions still to spend on LED street lighting
Tayside authorities have put aside almost £10 million for project
Councils across Tayside are to spend nearly £10 million on changing remaining lampposts over to LED lighting.
Dundee, Perth and Angus councils have all put aside millions to change street lights in a bid to cut their CO2 footprints, despite concerns from community leaders over the safety of dimmer light levels.
Dundee City Council began transferring its lights in January 2011 and has earmarked £4.8m to complete the changeover. This is expected to be completed within 24 months.
The local authority has received around 1,000 complaints each year since the work began, but this rose to 1,210 during the fiscal year 2015/16, the period after most of the changeovers occurred. The number of complaints fell to 833 during 2016/17.
It is not known what the exact nature of the complaints were, only that they related to street lighting.
Former Dundee Lord Provost John Letford previously made calls for the level of lighting to be increased, saying he was sure a car accident he witnessed was caused by dim conditions.
Ronald Neave, chairman of Dundee’s Fintry Community Council, said the darker streets offered opportunist thieves the chance to hide and warned elderly people would be more likely to fall if they couldn’t see as clearly.
Gary Langlands, who runs audiovisual company Vision, Sound and Light, took to the streets of Dundee to measure the brightness levels.
A former Dundee Chamber of Commerce president, Mr Langlands said the lights “just about” fulfilled the minimum standards in terms of brightness.
However, he stressed that the new lights were “much dimmer” than those they replaced.
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “All of the street lighting in the city meets the current British Standards.
“If anyone has an issue with a specific lamppost or particular street they should contact the street lighting partnership.”
A total of £1.7m and £2.05m has already been spent by Perth and Kinross and Angus councils, respectively.
Dundee City Council was unable to separate the amount spent from other previous budget expenditure.
Almost £3m will be spent on transforming the lighting in Angus when the operation is complete.
There, the amount of energy used since 2011 has fallen from 8,946,898 kWh to 5,598,859. More than half (58%) of lights in the county are reduced to 70% luminosity between the hours of 10pm and 6am. However, Angus Council decided not to dim any LED conversions along traffic routes and remote paths and in high crime areas, meaning only residential areas and industrial sites are dimmed overnight.
In Perth and Kinross, around £1.7m has already been spent as part of the programme, with a projected £2.7m required to complete the project.
The amount of power consumption has fallen by around a third since 2011.
Neither Perth and Kinross nor Angus councils responded to requests for comment.
All of the street lighting in the city meets the current British Standards