HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORT CABINET PANEL
TUESDAY 11th JANUARY 2011 AT 10.00 AM
Agenda Item No
4
STREET LIGHTING STRATEGY
Report of the Director Environment and Commercial Services
Author: Mike Younghusband
Tel: 01707 356551
Executive Member: Stuart Pile
1
Purpose of report
1.1
To seek the Panel’s views on the proposed street lighting strategy, which
includes detailed proposals for part-night lighting and proposals for a basic
operational service.
2
Summary
2.1
This report sets out detailed recommendations for a street lighting strategy,
predominantly based on ‘part-night lighting’, following the requests from the
November 2010 Panel and Cabinet meetings.
2.2
Following a desk top exercise a set of exception criteria has been identified.
2.3
The proposed hours of de-illumination are mid-night to 6am.
2.4
A two year project to convert to part-night lighting has been proposed alongside
a consultation strategy. A capital bid has been submitted to seek the necessary
funding.
2.5
The focus of achieving savings within the street lighting service thus far has been
on de-illumination. Further savings can be achieved by reviewing operational
service levels. It is recommended that the County Council’s street lighting service
ceases to operate in accordance with national standards and switches to an
environment where the objective for the service is the maintenance of purely
‘safe and operational’ street lighting with no frills.
3
Conclusions
3.1
The Panel is requested to note and comment upon:


The recommendation that officers develop a formal, detailed lighting strategy
based on the predominantly part-night lighting proposals outlined in the
report.
The consultation strategies outlined in paragraphs 8 and 9 of this report
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
The proposal to move to a basic operational service, based on the principles
of ‘safe and operational’ aimed at delivering Council for the Future [C4F]
savings as set out in paragraphs 9.2 – 9.12 of this report
4.
Part-Night Lighting Strategy
4.1
Following discussion at the November Highways & Transport Panel, Cabinet on
29th November 2010 decided that street lights should be turned off completely
where there is little or no footfall and part night lighting is likely to be the best
option in urban areas, although the time at which lights are to be turned off is still
to be agreed; and that officers draw up detailed plans for the Highways &
Transport Cabinet Panel to consider in January 2011.
4.2
The light switching will not be controlled by clocks, but electronic photo cells,
which have an accuracy of approximately +/- 15 minutes. It is recommended that
the hours of de-illumination are mid-night to 6am and that they are standard
countywide. The photo cell timings are factory set, so cannot be changed once
they are installed.
5.
Welwyn Garden City Pilot Study
5.1
Welwyn Garden City was selected for a pilot study aimed at identifying the
technical processes that need to be adopted and at testing the broad exception
criteria proposals presented to the November 2010 Highways and Transport
Panel.
5.2
Welwyn Garden City town centre was chosen as it is local to Highways House.
The sample area included 1,227 lighting columns or approx 1% of all
Hertfordshire County Council street lighting columns.
5.3
Given that the preferred strategy is based on part-night lighting, rather than full
de-illumination a fairly strict approach to exception criteria was applied.
5.4
Each column and the intentions in respect of it was identified on a set of plans to
exemplify the criteria and the detailed points of principle that needed to be
determined. This plan is available within the Member’s Room, [Room 103] at
County Hall, Hertford.
5.5
Based on the application of the criteria the study revealed that:
 74% of street lights are amenable to part-night lighting
 26% of the current lighting columns need to be retained in full night operation.
5.6
This result can be compared to the Highways &Transport Panel report prepared
before this more detailed study, which assumed that the proportion of lights that
could be de-illuminated in some form was in the range of 43% to 62%. This
assessment was based on a direction of travel that lights would either be ‘fully
on’ or ‘fully off’.
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5.7
The local members were consulted on the Welwyn Garden City pilot as part of
the desk top study to help test the emerging principles and provide useful feed
back on local points of detail. Should the part-night lighting project and its
attendant criteria be approved, the project team will re-engage with those local
members for Welwyn Garden City and the plans will be updated to reflect the
application of the finally agreed criteria.
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6.1
Exception criteria
The exception criteria determine the extent of potential change and therefore the
extent of achievable savings. The exception criteria provide a risk appraisal for
each street light considered for change.
6.2
Given that the preferred strategy is to apply part-night lighting in urban areas, it is
suggested that strict exception criteria can be applied more rigorously than if they
were to be applied to a full de-illumination strategy. Clearly, the greater the
rigour, the greater the long term energy and cost savings
6.3
It is recommended that street lighting is left in full night lighting in the
circumstances scheduled in the table below.
Full Night Lighting
Feature
Comments
Bollards
This equipment is generally linked to
Beacons
traffic hazards and there is only
Regulatory illuminated traffic signs
marginal scope for savings through deillumination
Subways
Approx 5,130 subway lights
Tunnels
Baldock tunnel
Town centres
Immediate area of concentrated
shopping districts with a night time
economy
CCTV coverage areas
Areas need to be defined locally
through consultation with Police and
District Councils
Areas of high crime
Areas to be defined exactly rather than
at ward or neighbourhood level.
Traffic route hazards
To meet statutory requirement and/or
proven significant accident risk
A, B & C class road junctions
DGT ITS Paper 28/07/2017
Where there is significant accident risk
& recommendation by police
discussions
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6.4
There will be some routes that have special, local circumstances for which the cost
saving of the change to part-night lighting is minor, but the potential impact is
large. It is therefore recommended that the local member is consulted on whether
they consider a switch to part-night lighting is appropriate, or not in the following
instances:
Local Member Consultation
Local alleyways and remote footpaths
Well used routes after midnight and
before 6am.
Small villages and hamlets
Where there are less than 10 lights in
the settlement
6.5
Given the preferred strategy is based predominantly on part-night lighting rather
than full de-illumination, there are a number of locations that do not need to be
included within the exception criteria. Thus it is recommended that the following
locations are generally excluded from the exception criteria and that local
members are not consulted on their being made subject to part-night lighting:
Part-Night Lighting
Residential road junctions
Areas surrounding emergency services
Areas surrounding registered care homes
Areas surrounding schools
Principal pedestrian access routes to transport hubs
Historic or cherished equipment and other special design apparatus
Footpaths running parallel to, but remote (more than 5m) from the carriageway
Footpaths adjacent to fields, wooded areas, un-fenced open land etc
Paths through parks, churchyards, others
7.
Full De-illumination
7.1
A number of lit sections of traffic routes have been assessed for suitability for full
de-illumination. Here all lights will be extinguished except those associated with
road hazards (junctions, roundabouts etc).
7.2
After consideration of local traffic accident histories, an initial list of 16 locations
was reduced to ten schemes suitable for on-site assessment. These sites will be
visited and the potential to de-illuminate confirmed and savings estimates
created.
7.3
The purpose of reporting the early stages of this study is to highlight that the
number of columns on Hertfordshire’s inter-urban traffic routes is quite modest
and, for those suitable for de-illumination the number is more modest still.
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7.4
There may be small villages and hamlets, which are suitable for full de-illumination.
It is proposed that officers will make decisions on these in consultation with the
local member and the Director Environment and Commercial Services.
Full De-illumination
Inter-Urban Traffic Routes
Except for sections with hazards
Small villages and hamlets
Where there are less than 10 lights in
the settlement
8
Implementation
8.1
A bid for capital funding based on the Highways &Transport Panel Option 3 has
been submitted to finance the part-night lighting project between 2011/12 and
2012/13. In delivering to this programme the energy and cost savings will be fully
achieved by 2013/14 and the project could be completed within the current
highways contract (thus avoiding a complex hand over to a different contract).
8.2
However, the programme and the integrity of the project will be very much
dictated by the public and local member engagement strategy.
8.3
It is recommended that local members and the police are consulted on prepared
plans to test the correctness of the proposals, not the validity of the criteria. It is
recommended that all other stakeholders are informed, but not consulted.
9.
Operational Service Levels
9.1
The focus of achieving savings within the street lighting service thus far has been
on de-illumination. Further savings can be achieved by reviewing operational
service levels.
9.2
It is recommended that the Hertfordshire County Council street lighting service
ceases to operate in accordance with national standards set out in the “Well – Lit
Highways Code of Practice for Highway Lighting Management” (“the Code of
Practice”) and switches to an environment where the objective for the service is
the maintenance of purely ‘safe and operational’ street lighting with no frills.
The provisions of the Code of Practice are not mandatory but may be a relevant
consideration should the Council be subject to legal challenge. It is therefore
recommended that the Council’s strategy identify departures from the Code of
Practice and set out the Council’s reasons for them.
9.3
The following proposals taken collectively could save approximately:
 £1.7m revenue against the current £8.34m budget
 £400,000 capital against the current £1.58m budget
9.4
Ad hoc column replacements
Only columns recommended for immediate attention are replaced, with all other
columns referred for replacement at a later date.
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9.5
Replacement Schemes
Currently replacement schemes are developed as a consequence of a number of
existing columns located within the same street requiring replacement (these
being identified via the structural testing programme). The strategy has been to
incorporate the replacement of adjacent columns in that street at the same time,
irrespective of potential remaining life. It is proposed that only columns
recommended for immediate attention are replaced. ‘Non-reds’ are not to be
replaced. This can mean that not all columns in a street will match.
9.6
Service Inspections
Currently, every piece of street lighting apparatus is visited on an annual basis
and a visual inspection is undertaken to assess the condition of the column.
With the lighting stock subject to other forms of inspection processes such as
electrical and non-destructive structural testing, it is reasonable to stop this
activity.
9.7
General Maintenance
These works include ongoing day-to-day apparatus repair works, including the
replacement of failed and damaged components (but excluding the full
replacement of damaged columns). This budget also covers the night time
inspection regime.
The contractor is subject to a Key Performance Indicators [KPI] performance
target whereby the proportion of operational lighting units should, at any one
time, equate to 98% and, as a consequence, has processes in place in an effort
to achieve these targets.
Hertfordshire County Council could relax the existing performance criteria and
dispense with the need for the contractor to undertake night time inspection
works. The source of all lighting faults would then lie with reports from the
general public, police and others.
It is also proposed that reported faults are attended to within ten business days
of receipt, as per the maintenance efficiency proposal also being considered by
this Panel. Contractor performance can be monitored by measuring the number
of reported faults attended within the required response time.
9.8
Electrical testing
The cyclic testing has just been extended from a six yearly cycle to an eight year
cycle, which means that one eighth of existing stock is tested annually.
However, the requirements set out within the national standards have recently
been revised with no frequency of inspection specified, so that it is for the
Authority to develop a testing regime based on its knowledge of the existing
apparatus and its condition.
Hertfordshire County Council can review the test results from previous inspection
programmes and develop a revised schedule of specific frequencies, based on
the intelligence held within the Asset Management System.
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9.9
Structural testing
By reviewing the current structural testing process including both the selection of
apparatus to be tested and the testing technique(s) used it should be possible to
develop a revised robust and economic strategy that should satisfy the guidance
set out within the standards.
9.10
Bulk clean and change
Such programmes were initially developed to minimise reactive repair responses
to reported faults. Under a ‘safe and operational’ regime there is no longer any
requirement for these preventative works to be carried out.
9.11
Consultancy support
Hertfordshire County Council currently commission the Design Team to
undertake works associated with the client role. The Design Team facilitates the
development and management of the majority of works processes passed onto
the Works Team.
With the implementation of the safe and operational strategy, a considerable
tranche of the Design Team’s existing workload will cease and instead will result
in a performance monitoring requirement.
9.12
Planned maintenance
Some minor works are carried out above and beyond the core maintenance
service, such as the provision of shields. It is proposed to undertake a review of
actual works commissioned via this budget over the last twelve month period
with the aim of differentiating between essential and non-essential activities. The
intention would be to cease funding all non-essential activity out of core budgets
and channel such activity for prioritisation within the discretionary programmes.
10
Financial Implications
10.1
A capital bid has been submitted to seek funding for the introduction of part-night
lighting. The two year project will cost approximately £4.56m and deliver an
estimated £1.36m saving per year as well as avoiding some costs associated
with carbon tax escalating from £50,000 in 2011/12 to £430,000 by 2020.
10.2
The proposals to deliver a ‘safe and operational’ service taken collectively could
save approximately:
10.3

£1.7m revenue against the current £8.34m budget

£400,000 capital against the current £1.58m budget
The ‘Safe and Operational’ service savings will contribute to the C4F declared
savings for the general highway service, but they can be considered to be on top
of the part-night lighting savings. These savings may not all be achievable within
the current contract arrangements.
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10.4
If the 'safe and operational' approach is supported by Cabinet then officers can
use it as a basis for tender discussions with the bidders, which will also help
refine the approach and officers can drive any savings not already achieved
through the new contracts when they start in 2012/13.
10.5
This Panel is also receiving a paper on highway maintenance efficiencies
[Agenda Item 5] associated with the Integrated Planning Process. The paper will
include some street lighting efficiency proposals, which can be delivered from
2011/12 with relatively little pain to the service and within the existing contract.
The street lighting savings totalling £339,000 are against the 2010/11 budget, but
these initiatives will eventually be superseded by the step change 'safe &
operational’ service. As such the £339,000 savings should not be considered to
be on top of the potential £2.1m savings associated with the 'safe and
operational service'
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