SWINDON Council is obsessed with the proposed switching off of street lights at night.
And they have tried to bolster their argument by comparing the city of Plymouth as an example.
The council states Plymouth have/are spending £12m converting the old sodium street lights to LED, with Plymouth’s Labour Council saving just £350,000 a year on this venture.
Did Plymouth get their sums wrong or does our council need enlightening?
Plymouth says the cost of doing this will be £8m and, as our council so rightly said, will have a reduced energy budget of £350,000 a year. Plymouth Council estimate with future higher energy costs and reduced maintenance, this will be paid for in 12 years.
Along with residents’ safety this is my argument. Because in years to come when we are more reliant on nuclear reactors for electricity, energy costs will rocket even more than today and the cost of doing this improvement will then be much more expensive.
What’s most startling is the cost. Plymouth is in the process of converting 28,000 lamps and Swindon council says it has 34,000 lamps.
It’s not a massive amount more, so where did the council deduce it would have to borrow £30m?
WILLIAM ABRAHAM Rodbourne Swindon
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