TEN thousand street lights have been replaced with more efficient LED lanterns by North Yorkshire County Council as part of a three-year upgrade plan.

The scheme began last October and aims to have 25,500 new street lights installed by next April. It has already resulted in nearly 1,000 tonnes of C02 reduction. As well as being better for the environment, the new lights have lower running costs and will be cheaper to maintain.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for highways, said: “We are ahead of schedule with the installation of the new lanterns and we are well on the way to reaping the financial and environmental benefits that this significant investment in the county’s street lighting will bring.

“It is essential that we spend money on modernising our street lights to guard against rising energy prices and spiralling maintenance costs. The new lights are predicted to reduce running costs by 40 per cent. Our street lighting engineers have had some very positive comments from residents about the new lights when they have been carrying out their work replacing lanterns across the county.

“The new lighting is designed to meet the British and European standards for road lighting and is specifically designed to direct all available light down on to the highway. This maximises the possible savings and means that we are in line with the Cleaner Neighbourhoods Act in terms of minimising light pollution.”

The county council maintains 50,400 of the county’s street lights (with others maintained by district councils or the Ministry of Defence), which cost £2.1 million to power and £1.2 million to maintain in 2017.

The scheme will replace a total of 44,372 lanterns by the end of March 2020 and result in a reduction in the council’s carbon footprint of more than 3,360 tonnes.