Somerset Council has announced a £5.8 million investment to convert its remaining street lighting and illuminated assets to LED technology, targeting substantial energy savings and improved maintenance efficiency.
Currently responsible for over 60,000 lighting assets—including streetlights, bollards, signs, and Belisha beacons across Somerset—the council spends just over £5 million annually on powering these installations. Nearly 70% of these assets have already been upgraded to LED lighting, which offers greater energy efficiency and durability.
However, 30% of the council’s illumination infrastructure remains outdated, inefficient, and increasingly difficult to maintain due to discontinued parts and ageing systems. To address this, the council plans to upgrade these remaining assets within the next 12 months.
This comprehensive upgrade will reduce the council’s annual energy expenditure by almost £2 million by 2028. Specifically, the energy budget is projected to drop from £5.016 million currently to approximately £3.116 million within two years after the LED installations.
Of the total 60,013 lighting assets, 52,948 are street lights, 4,968 illuminated signs, 1,677 illuminated bollards, and 420 Belisha beacons or similar crossing post lights. With 42,003 assets already converted to LEDs, the focus now shifts to the remaining 18,010 units.
Matthew Scriven, Somerset Council’s Head of Highways, Infrastructure, and Transport, emphasized the urgency: “An immediate decision is crucial. To achieve the £1.1 million energy savings planned for next year, orders for materials must be placed by mid-January to start installations by April. Delays will directly impact the projected savings, decreasing by £91,226 for every month the decision is postponed.”
Funding for this initiative is sourced from the existing highways budget, with £3.118 million allocated from the current financial year’s capital grant and an additional £2.75 million from the 2026/27 grant. This approach allows the project to proceed without incurring external borrowing.
By April 2027, the council expects to save £1.1 million on energy bills, with further savings of £800,000 anticipated by April 2028. The detailed budget, including this and other measures, will be discussed by the full council in Bridgwater on February 25.