Cllr Kerley pushes for end of moratorium on new public lighting in Louth

Louth County Council has said that since the introduction of the moratorium on the installation of new public lighting in the county, around 900 public lights have still to be added to the stock of public lighting the Council has to run and maintain, as a result of the Taking in Charge of housing estates in the county.

The local authority was responding to a motion from Cllr Rachel Kerley at the Louth County Council March meeting, where Cllr Kerley called on Louth County Council to "review the current policy regarding the moratorium of new public lighting with the objective to end the moratorium."

Replying to the Fine Gael councillor, Director of Placemaking and Physical Development, David Jones, said that "Louth County Council has circa 14,300 public lights throughout the County which falls under its remit. Budget provision is made through the annual Revenue Budget to cover the maintenance costs associated with this quantum of public lighting, including energy costs.

Mr Jones continued: "It is important to note that since the introduction of the moratorium on the installation of new public lighting, introduced in order to manage recurring energy and maintenance costs, circa 900 public lights have still to be added to the Council's stock of public lighting as a result of the Taking in Charge process of estates, and new lighting as part of various grant fund schemes such as Town & Village Renewal and Low Cost Safety Measures.

"Accordingly, in a similar vein, additional public lighting will continue to be added to stock as a result of same on an ongoing basis in the future, thus increasing maintenance and energy costs as a result.

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"In addition, the matter of concentric cabling, which was typically installed in public lighting installations from the 1970s to the 1990s, is not compliant with current electrical standards, which means that any faults that relate to such cables require a full cable replacement, thereby adding considerable additional costs to repair works where such a scenario arises. Unfortunately, such instances are becoming more common and will impact on the available budget provision into the future."