CHESHIRE East Council is to invest £9.5 million in LED street lighting.

Following a successful upgrade of street lighting on main traffic routes last year, more money is being invested to convert the ‘majority’ of the borough’s street lights to LED over the next three years.

The LED replacements will begin this month focus on residential roads. The council is aiming to replace 24,000 lights over three years including 3,000 lampposts.

Councillor David Brown, Deputy Leader of Cheshire East Council and Cabinet member for highways and infrastructure, said: “The energy savings and carbon reduction associated with this investment in LEDs will secure real benefits for Cheshire East.

“Most importantly, though, we hope that this innovation will help to improve feelings of safety within our communities.”

The new street lighting produces a ‘white light’ which reportedly improves visibility and colour recognition to help promote and maintain safety for residents and road users.

The council hopes that the improvement in the quality of lighting will have a positive impact on vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

LED street lighting is also designed to direct light downwards on to the road, reducing light pollution into properties.

It is proven to be more economical and produces less carbon than conventional street lighting.

Installation of this technology across Cheshire East is reducing the Council’s carbon footprint and will deliver annual savings on street lighting energy consumption in excess of 40 per cent for the Council and Cheshire East residents.

LEDs are more reliable than the existing street lighting and have an estimated service life of 10-20 years. The council hopes that improved reliability will result in fewer faults and therefore less disruption to the network, which would otherwise require engineer repair visits.