£75,000 to light up the streets of Warwick District
Several areas of Warwick district are to benefit from a £75,000 scheme that will upgrade the lighting in several areas.
Warwickshire County Council’s area committee for Warwick District has allocated the money for replacement lanterns in lamps in parts of Woodloes, Lillington, Sydenham, Kenilworth and Milverton. A street lighting audit identified these as being areas in most need of improved lighting.
The money will upgrade all mercury lamps in the area to high-pressure sodium lamps. Benefits will be twofold; there is a greater output of white light that not only gives improved illumination of an area, it is also better for use alongside CCTV. The white light illustrates details such as colour or facial features more clearly making CCTV a viable tool for Police to use in prosecution cases.
There is also a further energy saving, with the more efficient lamps having a 70watt output rather than 80watts as was previously the case. Further energy reduction is made by having electronic control gear in the lantern which ensures the lamps burns more efficiently.
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 Sarah Boad, chair of the Warwick area committee, said: “Clearly this scheme will have major benefits for 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.”
Craig Anderson, chair of Warwick District’s crime and disorder reduction partnership (CDRP), 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.”