STREET LIGHTING

New street lights could be fitted with "dimmer switches" to save energy and cut pollution. Lights may be turned down or even off altogether at times when fewer cars and lorries are using the roads. The Highways Agency is looking for ways to cut carbon emissions and light pollution. Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman said his department supports the plan, but insisted road safety will not suffer.

A Highways Agency spokesman said, "Our first step could be to look at whether lights could be dimmed at suitable locations when traffic levels are low, but we will not begin on-road trials without very careful pre-assessment. Currently about 30% of our network is lit, mainly at road junctions and roundabouts."

He added, "This figure is not likely to change significantly, as a result of the new standards. The new standards will not be applied retrospectively to existing lighting. We do expect that it will mean less new lighting being installed in the future. Where a particular need for pedestrian lighting has been identified, we expect levels to be maintained." (Source: BBC News, Feb/07)

Derby City Council has signed a £1.4m deal with a company that supplies green energy to buy enough electricity produced by wind and water to power every street light in Derby. The cost of the two-year deal with Scottish and Southern Energy is about £19,000 more than the council's previous energy supply contract but councillors believe it is a price worth paying for the benefits to the environment.

Councillor Chris Wynn, cabinet member for planning and transportation, said, "It's well worth us paying that little bit more. It's a super deal . It's a very positive statement for the people of Derby." The council believed it could feasibly save about £50,000 per year in energy costs by providing enough electricity from the water to power council buildings. All of the city's streetlights are due to be replaced in a £35.75m project set to start in 2007. The power supply change will not affect that project. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Dec/06)

A £33m programme to repair and replace Derby's 26,000 street lights over five years could be carried out by a private company. The proposal comes after the city council admitted that the service had suffered from a lack of investment. It has been previously revealed that of the street lights in the city, up to 80%, 20,800, are in a poor structural condition or do not meet British standards, though none are deemed dangerous. It is also estimated that 70% of the lights, 18,200, are near to the end of their 25-year lives.

The council is currently responsible for street lights in the city, but the responsibility for replacing and maintaining them could be transferred to a company through a private finance initiative (PFI). For this financial year, the council has budgeted to spend £137,000 on replacing street lights only on a like-for-like basis, plus a little over £1m on maintenance and power. Some street lights have already been replaced, such as those in Onslow Road, Mickleover. But, only a few streets away, the old lights remain in Devonshire Drive.

Under a PFI contract, which is expected to be worth between £28m and £33m, a company would take over the running, replacement programme and maintenance. The council would then repay the cost of the contract over the next 25 years. Members of the council's cabinet are to discuss whether they want to go forward with this option.

Council leader Maurice Burgess said, "I've been campaigning for a proper street lighting programme to get rid of the dark corners and the PFI is a way to achieve that over a five-year period. It will be one of the things that people all over the city will be pleased to see, as it will add to their security and enhance the areas they live in. At the moment, there is a patchwork of replacement lights. Going through the PFI is much more economical."

At the moment, the council is forecast to pay £1,151,000 a year for the next 25 years to cover the cost of the street lights. But this does not address the problem of the replacement backlog. It is estimated that under the PFI agreement, the council would pay back between £1,126,000 to £1,319,000 each year and all the street lights would be replaced over a five-year period. Mr Burgess said this was an initiative that was started under the old Labour administration.

Plans to replace every street light in Derby will be delayed by months because the Government has changed the rules to provide "uniformity of light" across residential areas. The city council had been planning the project for years and finally secured the £32.5m funding to erect more than 27,000 new lamps over the next five years. The council must now apply for millions of pounds of additional funding to cover the cost of extra lighting columns needed to meet a new British Standard. The council estimates it will add about 10% to the original cost, an extra £3.25m, taking the total price to about £35.75m.

The council's street lighting manager, Alan Jaques, said, "With low uniformity, you can walk down a street and see dark areas and light areas. With higher uniformity, there is much more consistency between how much light there is. There are different ways this can be achieved and we're in the process of looking at how it can be achieved in different streets. One way is to have more lights so they can be put closer together. Another is to increase the height at which they are mounted." British Standard changes affect new works but do not have the retrospective power to force authorities to make changes.

Councillor Chris Wynn, cabinet member with responsibility for planning and transportation, said, "This is going to call for a redesign on a street-by-street basis. That's going to take a lot of time and work, hence the additional cost. We've taken this option because it's the only sensible one available to us. We could have reduced the scale of the project, but that would have meant we wouldn't be delivering what we originally promised." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Dec/06)

Graffiti artists, prostitutes, drug dealers and miscellaneous street scum across the UK face a new challenge to their nefarious activities, the Q Star FlashCam-530 shouting lamppost currently being deployed across the nation. The vociferous US-developed FlashCam has already been attached to street furniture in 52 locations in London, Glasgow and Birmingham, where it has apparently been successful in holding back the tide of al fresco criminality. Q Star's blurb explains:

The FlashCam-530 was designed to deter vandalism. The two most popular applications are deterring graffiti and illegal trash dumping. Water companies are using the system as a first line of defense in protecting water storage tanks against intruders. Some systems are being used to deter burglary. Other customers report it deters drug dealing and prostitution. The FlashCam-530 senses motion up to 100 feet away. When motion is detected, the system starts taking 35 mm photographs. A bright flash goes off and a loud voice message warns the intruder to "leave the area now" and that his/her photograph is being taken.

Q Star's head honcho, Steve Galinsky, a former London Met police officer, enthused, "They have already caught lots of people, some quite literally with their pants down, engaged with prostitutes. The look of utter amazement on their faces when the camera starts to shout is priceless." We don't doubt it. We wonder exactly how the FlashCam distinguishes between strumpets administering illicit sexual relief to punters and old ladies out walking their dogs. We are reminded of the most excellent case of blaggers who lifted 60 CCTV cameras in Wakefield, despite said kit being fitted with speakers which enabled remote operators to issue stern warnings to would-be miscreants. (Source: The Register)