£75,000 to light up the streets of Rugby borough
Several areas of Rugby are to benefit from a £75,000 scheme that will upgrade the lighting in several areas within the borough.
Warwickshire County Council’s area committee for Rugby Borough has allocated the money for replacement lanterns in parts of the original Brownsover estate, Old Brownsover and Newbold after a street audit identified these as being areas in most need of improved lighting. Parts of Overslade will also receive upgraded lighting.
The money will upgrade all low pressure sodium lamps in the area to high-pressure sodium lamps. This will result in a much greater output of golden light that not only gives improved illumination of an area but is also better for use alongside CCTV. The improved light illustrates details such as colour or facial features more clearly making CCTV a viable tool for Police to use in prosecution cases.
The lamps will also run on green energy, the county council’s preferred source of energy for street lighting. With nearly 50,000 street lights and over 7,000 illuminated street signs, using green energy reduces carbon emissions by nearly 2,000 tonnes over the course of a year.
Councillor John Vereker, chair of the Rugby area committee, said: “Clearly this scheme will have major benefits such as improved community safety in the areas where the new lights will be installed. It is especially pleasing that we are able to make these improvements whilst improving our energy efficiency in line with the county council’s green strategy.”
District Commander for Rugby, Chief Inspector Martin Samuel was also delighted with the proposals, saying.
“We hope that this will reduce people’s fear of crime in the communities. We are also confident that the lighting will complement the wide coverage of CCTV in the district and be another obstacle to those who are committing anti-social behaviour.”