Coventry to 'dim' city's street lamps

Author: Daily Telegraph - Feb 17, 2010

Posted in: Environmental and Energy Sustainability / The model environmentally sustainable council / Local Government News

Coventry will become the first city in Britain to adopt the new technology at a cost of £250 million.

All 28,000 street lamps will be replaced over the next 25 years and connected to a central control room that allows computers to turn lights up or down.

The scheme will allow the council to turn lights up to full beam on accident black spots or dangerous streets. It could even be used to provide better lighting after a football match and then turned down during quiet periods like the Festive season.

Coventry City Council hope to cut their carbon emissions by 40 per cent and reduce energy bills.

But residents are already concerned that when lamps on suburban streets are turned down, the elderly and families could be put at risk.

Others warn that turning up lights will leave them unable to sleep at night.

Clifford Howe, 75, said: "I can see it could keep residents awake, we have got a street lamp outside our house so it comes straight in through the window, so I wouldn't want them brighter.

"Maybe the busy streets in the city would be a good idea, but not everywhere."

Other councils have already piloted the controversial measures on a smaller scale.

Ken Taylor, leader of Coventry City Council, said he thought the new system would solve a lot of problems in the city.

"Like a lot of people I have got dimmer switches in my home. Now we will soon have one that covers all street lights in the city too," he said.

"It means we can turn areas of lighting down, or up, as required. For events in the city centre we can turn them up but at 3.30am on a Tuesday morning for example we can also turn them down – saving power and money"

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