A street lighting initiative that was intended to reduce spending could cost Nottinghamshire Council £1.5 million, according to a new report.
In 2011, the Conservative council decided to only fix faulty street lights, a regime known as ‘Burn to Extinction’, instead of carrying out routine repairs, (‘Bulk Clean and Change’). Initially, the scheme realised a saving of £500,000 in 2011/2012, but this benefit reduced to £142,800 for 2012/2013. In 2013/2014, there was a net increase in the cost of street light repairs to £153,235.
According to the report from the council’s director of highways, while there would be an additional £400,000 cost in the first year and £200,000 in the second, returning to routine maintenance could save about £1.5 million in the long-term.
The report suggests that the ‘burn-to-extinction’ approach was proving expensive for the council because it was having to repeatedly return to the same streets to repair different lamps in a random fashion. It was also creating a backlog of repairs as the number of streelight faults increased by 22 per cent between 2011/2012 and 2012/2013. The author goes on to suggest that the previous Bulk-Clean-and-Change regime had been more effective in reducing the number of lamp failures and repairs because they could be picked up and dealt with during routine maintenance.
The local authority, which is currently Labour-run, will meet later this week to discuss the issue.
Kevin Greaves, Labour’s transport lead, told BBC News that the authority was “haemorrhaging money” on street light repairs: “Routine maintenance should never be avoided as it will cost a lot, lot more in the long-run,” he said.
“If you don’t maintain your car, you’ll save money in the first and second year, but come the third and fourth years, it is guaranteed to cost you money.”
Also speaking to BBC News, Richard Jackson, who is responsible for transport and highways for the Conservative group, said: “I think there’s a problem in the way [the scheme] has been implemented.
“It was quite a sensible policy in the first place… but it looks as if it has been badly managed.”
