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Work has begun to replace streetlights in Cambridgeshire with LEDs

13 January 2025

Work started in earnest in the New Year to replace the majority of our existing streetlighting with newer, more efficient LED (light emitting diode) lights – this can cut energy consumption from street lighting by more than half.

Cambridgeshire County Council is responsible for more than 53,500 streetlights across the county, approximately 47,500 of which will be replaced by LED replacements under this scheme.

Reducing the existing carbon usage of streetlights is vital to achieving our goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2030, and in addition to the environmental benefit, the installation of energy-saving LED lighting will help to significantly reduce future spending on streetlighting.

It will take around two years to replace all 47,500 streetlights with LEDs; we’re expecting the work to be finished by May 2026.

Councillor Alex Beckett, Chair of the Highways and Transport Committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “So many of us having been replacing our old bulbs at home with more efficient LED's. We’ve been working towards doing the same with our County Council Street streetlights for a while, bringing them into the 21st century, and we're now ready to implement those changes.

“The new LED lights represent a huge carbon saving and will help bring us closer to our target of net zero emissions by 2030. LEDs are a particularly good solution, as they combine energy reduction with low maintenance costs, due to their longer average lifetime. It’s great to know that the money saved on energy will be put back into other vital services like road maintenance.”

Electricity for the county’s streetlighting is purchased through the supplier ‘EDF Energy’ and it’s purchased on a tariff which guarantees that it’s from 100% renewable sources such as solar, wind and hydro.

LED technology is extremely reliable and there should be very few instances of streetlights failing or not coming on at night. The new streetlights are designed for 20 years of continuous life, with no maintenance (other than cleaning) required.

The LED streetlights have been rigorously tested to ensure they provide a similar level of brightness on the road to that provided by the older, less energy efficient streetlights. In rural areas, a ‘softer’ white light will be used, which is slightly less energy-efficient but is better for wildlife, including bats.

The LED streetlights emit light in a more concentrated way directly towards the road. This means that in a residential area, whilst the road is lit, other places such as verges and driveways, which were previously incidentally lit by the old streetlights, will now likely appear darker. Ensuring that the new streetlights do not significantly illuminate areas beyond the street itself will reduce light pollution and is one way that energy efficiency has been improved.

You can find out more about our streetlight replacement programme on our website.

Information on how to report a street lighting fault, and likely repair times are on our website: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/roads-and-pathways/streetlighting