Still in the dark over street lights scheme

East Oldham District Partnership

FUNDING for a multi-million pound upgrade of Oldham’s street lights has still not been approved by the Government.

The £30 million joint Private Finance Initiative between Oldham and Rochdale councils would see 55,000 street lights, bollards and signs in both boroughs updated over the next five years and then maintained for 20 years.

Both councils and their project manager, the Impact Partnership, have selected a preferred bidder to carry out the work which, once finished, should lead to a 10 per cent saving on annual costs, a 10 per cent cut in electricity use and a 15 per cent reduction in spending on street-lighting columns.

Work was due to begin last June, but Sue Eachus, Oldham Council’s acting group manager for highways, said that the scheme had been sent back to the Government for reapproval.

She said: “We’ve got the same problem with our street lights as we have with our roads — they are falling apart.

“Out of 25,000 street lamps, two thirds need replacing. We are hoping to get the money but we will see.”

She said the councils would know whether they had been successful next month.


Roads in need of repair across East Oldham could soon benefit from £10 million for capital works throughout the borough.

The funding will be used to repair and resurface Oldham’s road network over the next four years.

The District Partnership was asked to prioritise key roads in the three wards which were in a particularly bad state.

Sue Eachus said a list of 600 roads across the borough had been drawn up but she needed local knowledge to identify the worst ones.