Work is to continue on a £7 million project to replace thousands of street lights in Liverpool.

A total of 15,000 lights serving 1,890 streets are to be fitted with new LED bulbs, helping to save energy as well as ongoing maintenance costs.

Phase one of the programme, which is being carried out by SSE Enterprise in partnership with the city council, was completed in 2017 and involved replacing 12,000 lights. The programme will be rolled out to Croxteth and the rest of the city before ending in Speke this autumn.

The second phase will reduce energy consumption for these lights by 82%, cutting the council's energy bill by a further £260,000 a year. In addition, there will be a reduction in carbon of around 1,300 tonnes, saving £21,000 and generating maintenance savings of approximately £47,000 a year.

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Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson said: "LED street lighting not only improves the lighting across the city it makes our streets safer and our city cleaner.

"Already through phase one we have made our city a healthier place to live by saving 1,500 tonnes of carbon emissions and achieved savings of more than half a million pounds.

"Our maintenance costs will also reduce by £2.7m overall over the next five years once all of the street lights have been converted. We can then reinvest this saving in to other key services and communities at a time when unprecedented cuts are forcing us to make some heart-breaking decisions."

Project Manager for SSE Enterprise, John Bate said: "This is an exciting opportunity for SSE Enterprise to work in partnership with the Council to reduce their energy and ongoing cost of its street lighting whilst making a dramatic improvement to the quality of light for its residents and communities."

(LM/MH)