Street Lights Get Green Light

Street lighting in the Royal Borough is set to become cheaper and more environmentally friendly. At a cabinet meeting on Thursday last week, councillors agreed to join with four other Berkshire local authorities to buy energy for street lighting, and bring in more modern lamps to reduce the borough's carbon footprint and cut light pollution.

Cllr Antony Wood (Lib Dem, Clewer South), cabinet member for traffic and transport, said the council could review its energy buying and lamp column maintenance because the current street lighting contracts are coming to an end. He added: "This is an exciting opportunity to take a radical approach that will result in efficient and effective street lighting and, at the some time, make a real saving on energy use."

Another key element of the new initiative will be looking at alternative sources of energy. Cllr Wood said: "The council already buys a considerable amount of green energy through its contractor. However, we need to look at how we can use the sun and wind to power more of our street lighting."

The new arrangements would take effect from 1st April.