At tonight’s full Oldham Council (13 December 2017), the Oldham Liberal Democrats are proposing that the Council looks to adopt LED lamps to light the Borough’s streets and council buildings.

Councillor Diane Williamson is proposing the motion: “LED lighting is the way of the future. Although there will be an initial cost in replacing existing lamps with LEDs, they cost much less to run, leading to long term savings which will free up money for essential services, and they are much better for the environment, meaning our Borough will be greener.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor John McCann, who is seconding the motion and is the party’s spokesperson on finance, proposed in the party’s 2017 alternate budget that LED lighting be adopted; a proposal endorsed by the Performance and Value for Money (PVFM) Sub Committee.

Councillor Williamson added: “This is a common sense choice for our long-term finances and the right choice for a green future. However we recognise that in Oldham we have the added complication that our street-lighting service is delivered through a Private Finance Initiative arrangement, in conjunction with our neighbours at Rochdale Council.”

“Our motion therefore asks the PVFM Sub Committee to take a further look at how the replacement of our existing lighting with LEDs can be done in an affordable and phased way over five years, and how we might look to become a signatory to the Lighten Up Campaign, run by the environmental group 10:10, as a Council fully committed to cutting our carbon footprint.”

Council 13 December 2017 – Motion – Lighten Up Pledge

 This Council notes:

• There are an estimated 7.5 million street lights in the UK
• In 2014, the Green Investment Bank reported that only 10% of these are LED
• It is estimated that switching all street lights to LED would:
• save Councils over £200 million per year, paying for half a million children to have free school meals each year or for an extra 12 million hours of social care
• prevent over 600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere every year, the equivalent of taking 400,000 cars off the road
• take 0.5 GW off peak electricity demand, the equivalent of a coal fired power station
• reduce light pollution as they are more directional and can employ sensors which determine when they are most needed and when they are not
• Further cost reductions can be provided through the use of LED lighting within Council buildings
• Affordable financing is available to Councils to make the change to LED street lights through the Public Works Loan Board, the Salix Energy Efficiency Loans Scheme and the Green Investment Group amongst others
• That the change is possible even in a situation where the street lighting service is provided via a Private Finance Initiative model
• That the 10:10 climate change climate group is asking Council to sign up to the Lighten Up pledge and make a commitment to going fully LED within 5 years

As a local authority committed to reducing its carbon footprint and providing residents with value-for-money services, Council recognises that a change to LED has merit, is worth investigating, and that a proposal to so was approved by the Performance and Value for Money sub-committee when it was presented as part of the alternate budget proposed by the Liberal Democrat Group in 2017.

Council therefore resolves to ask the Performance and Value for Money sub-committee to examine:

• The practicality and affordability of replacing street lights and lighting in Council buildings with LEDs in whole or in part
• The possibility of the Council making a commitment to replace all street lights with LEDs within five years and to making the Pledge as a signatory to the Lighten Up campaign.