A multi-million pound programme to replace more than 27,000 streetlights in Wirral with energy-saving LED lanterns is almost complete.

A report to the Environment, Transport and Climate Emergency Committee this month will set out the progress on the scheme to date and provide updates about the reductions in costs and carbon emissions the replacement of the lights is achieving.

Nearly all the scheduled work will be completed by the end of 2021. As well as the upgrade to the lanterns themselves, more than 9,000 old streetlight columns have been replaced too as part of this work, which has been carried out under contract by SSE, the council’s contractors for the LED Replacement project.

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This year, SSE will have also installed 50 on-street electric vehicle charging points on lighting columns as part of a pilot project, which is aimed at delivering environmental improvements.

As well as helping to meet carbon reduction targets by dramatically reducing energy use each year, the new LED lights reduce running costs as the lamps last longer than the original fittings and need less maintenance. They also seem to be proving more reliable with a notable reduction in the number of report streetlight faults over the last two years – 145 in August 2021, compared to 429 in August 2019.

The new LED lights create a white light effect and are directed onto the pavement and road to help increase visibility for residents and improve the footage for CCTV cameras where they are in use.