MORE than £1m has been saved in a successful council scheme to replace13,644 old streetlights with energy-saving LED lights.

Hartlepool Borough Council started the replacement work in July and had expected the bill to be £5m but in-house council workmen are now expected to complete the work for £3.8m.

The £1.2m difference will now be spent on replacing 2,943 columns that are over 30 years old. Private contractors had asked for £6.8m to replace the lights.

At one point Hartlepool councillors were considering contracting out the light replacement work, but Cllr Marjorie James, Chairwoman of the Neighbourhood Services Committee, said the £1m saving proved that using the council's own workmen was the right decision.

She said: "This saving has only come about as a result of a very effective procurement exercise carried out by council officers which enabled us to buy the new LED lighting units for £800,000 less than originally estimated. Other efficiencies made by our in-house installation team have taken the total saving to £1.2m.

“It should be noted that when informal discussions took place with potential private sectors providers their indicative price for a full streetlight replacement scheme was £6.8 million.

“I’m delighted that we ultimately decided to keep the work in-house and these figures prove that decision was correct.

“I would like to congratulate all council officers involved in the LED replacement scheme for their hard work in achieving such a successful outcome and it highlights the importance of carrying out such work in-house.

“As a result, we are now in a position to make a substantial investment in tackling the deteriorating condition of streetlight columns in various parts of the town –work for which we had not been able to previously identify funding.”

The replacement of the streetlight columns will run alongside the on-going LED replacement scheme and is due to be completed by December next year.

As previously reported in The Northern Echo, Stockton council is replacing nearly 28,000 lights and lampposts in an on-going £14m investment programme which it is hoped will eventually save the council £1.8m a year in lower energy bills.

Councils across the UK have been criticised by leading national politicians for dimming streetlights, often important for public safety, in a cost-cutting exercise. However LED lights are more energy efficient and cost less in running costs although some people complain they emit less light.

Hartlepool council did not dim lights, however Stockton BoroughCouincil does dim 8,000 lights to save about £200,000 a year and Middlesbrough Council dims lights on the A66 after midnight.