Monmouthshire County Council is running three road shows to introduce changes to its street lighting service. The road shows take place in the public car park in Bulwark on Tuesday 6th December, Chepstow’s Beaufort Square on Wednesday 7th December and Maryport Street car park in Usk the following day and all three will run from 9am to 2pm. Further road shows will take place elsewhere in the county next year.
Monmouthshire’s streets are lit by approximately 9,500 sensor-operated electric lamps which detect light and darkness. These lights are inefficient by today’s standards, both economically and environmentally because they stay on all night. Consequently, the lights release 2,369 tonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere and cost £420,000 to run annually, an amount set to rise significantly with increases in energy prices.
The council has therefore started to make Monmouthshire’s lights more efficient and sustainable with the installation of a dimming system. Dimming results in an overall energy use reduction of around 30% and feedback from pilot studies has shown that output can be reduced by 50% between 10 pm and 6 am with little or no visible difference to householders.
Updating the streetlights will be partly financed by an interest free government loan awarded to Monmouthshire County Council as a as a result of these proposals demonstrating good practice and value for money. The savings provided by the new lights mean this loan will be repaid within six years. The new system is already in use in Mathern, Trelech, Grosmont and Goetre, with installation taking place in the rest of Monmouthshire over the next two years.
Street lighting staff will be pleased to answer queries at the road shows or alternatively, residents are advised to contact their local one stop shop.
Cabinet member for county operations, Councillor Bryan Jones said: “This investment will modernise our lighting system and be good for the purse and environment”.
