£40 million street lighting scheme axed

A £40.5 million funding package to boost Warrington’s street lighting has been axed by the Coalition Government.
The decision has disappointed the borough council – and infuriated Warrington North MP Helen Jones.
She said: “The decision to leave Warrington in the dark is misguided and potentially dangerous.
“Scrapping the money to pay for more street lighting across Warrington will at best make areas unwelcoming and could potentially make areas dangerous.
“I have to written to the borough council to find out which projects are being cancelled as a result of this news.
“The Con-Dem Government is showing that they don’t see public safety as a priority by scrapping this funding and cutting police budgets by 20 per cent which will see fewer police officers on our streets.”
Coun Ian Marks, (right) leader of the borough council, said the Department of Transport had withdrawn financial support for all street lighting private finance initiatives.
“Strictly speaking, no financial commitment had been received from the previous government although we had received very positive feedback and were one of only six authorities to be given the green light to proceed.
“Our officers had done some excellent work in putting forward such a strong case.
“This is obviously disappointing because we had long term plans to replace 26,398 street lighting columns, 3,734 illuminated traffic signs/beacons and 1,070 illuminated traffic bollards.
“The fundamental problem is that the Coalition Government inherited the largest deficit in our peacetime history. If all Labour’s plans including PFI projects had gone ahead, debt would have risen even more with the prospect of higher taxes or more cuts. Priority is being given to capital projects which generate economic growth, enhance regional transport and provide support for green infrastructure projects.
“But we are looking at alternative ways of upgrading our lighting. We are unlikely to benefit from the Local Transport Plan funding due in December so we are investigating more radical options like partnering with other local authorities or the private sector.
“We have successfully gained funds from Salix Finance, an independent not-for-profit social enterprise for two street lighting projects. These projects include replacing existing signage and bollards with solar powered sources and more efficient LED and white lights.
“Once complete this will save 600 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. We are pursuing more funding with Salix as an important contribution to meeting our climate change targets.”
It was last February that the previous government indicated that Warrington would benefit from a £40.5 million PFI funding package for street lighting.