Light relief in £30m upgrade of street lamps

A new partnership for Oldham and Rochdale councils will be lighting up the borough with a multi-million pound upgrade of street lamps.

Both councils and their project manager, the Impact Partnership, have selected a preferred bidder to update 55,000 street lights, bollards and signs over the next five years and then maintain them for 20 years.

The collaboration should bring value for money, a safer, better-lit environment, and the latest, energy-efficient equipment using green energy. It will also help to reduce long-term maintenance costs.

In 2006, Oldham and Rochdale embarked on the country’s second largest street-lighting scheme to fast-track improvements to almost a third of Oldham’s street lighting columns (7,823) which are more than 30 years old.

In Oldham, 18,642 lighting units will be replaced because they fail to meet modern standards.

Bollards

Another 3,169 new lighting columns are needed across the borough, and 2,692 illuminated traffics signs, bollards and beacons will be replaced.

Underground, 2,000 metres (5 per cent) of ageing lighting cables also need urgent replacement.

The work, which will cost £30 million, will be carried out under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Once finished, the work should lead to a 10 per cent saving on year-on-year costs, a 10 per cent cut in electricity-use, and 15 per cent less spent on street-lighting columns.

Councillor Howard Sykes, leader of Oldham Council, said: “By working together, we have been able to not only strengthen our historic links but also plan for the future and give council tax-payers the best value for money.”

Work is due to begin in June by the Community Lighting Partnership, a consortium of companies including E.ON UK plc, Pell Frischmann Consultants and Trillium Holdings Ltd.