The Finance and General Purposes Committee has announced that it has received 80% of the £34,900 to be paid to it from the district council’s Zero-Carbon fund.
The funds will be used to convert the village’s sodium streetlights for LED ones with switching controls.
“At a time when energy costs have tripled, converting our existing lights will help us from having to pass on these costs to residents,” explains F&GP Chair John O’Brien. “We would like to be able to switch off the majority of streetlights from midnight through to five in the morning.”
Areas particularly affected by darkness and where residents’ personal safety is an issue would be excluded from night-time black outs, for example the village twitchels and places such as Water Lane. Consultations with residents on night-time switching are to be proposed. Thanks to the grant from Uttlesford District Council the switch to green bulbs has been accelerated.
So far 86 sodium lights have been replaced. Now, 104 will be converted in 2023, and the remainder of Parish Council Street Lights (296) will be changed to LED bulbs in the next two to three years – cutting energy needed for lighting by up to 72.3%.