4500 old style street lights to be replaced

Transport for Buckinghamshire is continuing its county-wide streetlight replacement programme over the next few months with a further 4500 old style sodium lanterns being replaced with the more environmentally friendly and longer lasting Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) lanterns.

Over the past five years more than 12,000 streetlights in Buckinghamshire have been converted to LEDs. But some lights – mostly in residential areas – are still using the old style lamps, which are recognisable for their deep orange colour.

Low pressure Sodium lamps have been widely used since the 1960s but have gone out of favour in recent years as their running costs are relatively high, compared with LED technology, and the quality of light poor.

Mark Shaw, Buckinghamshire County Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transportation, said: “LEDs are more environmentally friendly, they reduce light pollution, and they last for much longer which saves money on energy bills and manpower. Please bear with us while this programme is rolled out as some of these street lights may have been out for some time as we have been in the process of moving to the new lanterns.”

Philips Lighting, the last remaining manufacturer of low pressure sodium lamps has now announced that it will discontinue the lamps and production will cease in September 2020.

Residents can report broken streetlights – old style or LED – on the County Council website http://www.transportforbucks.net/report-it-street-lighting.aspx

Existing streetlights which are currently not working and not in the new LED programme, will be prioritised for repair using a risk based assessment.