Street lights maintenance

Please provide the following information about street lights maintained by the council as highway authority.

Definitions. ‘Street light’ means a lighting column or lantern on the adopted highway maintained by the council; it excludes lights maintained by parish or town councils, housing providers or private landowners, and lights on trunk roads and motorways maintained by National Highways.

Where the council’s street lighting is delivered through a PFI or other contractor, please answer for the lights covered by that contract.

If any part of this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under section 12, please treat Questions 1 to 3 as the priority and answer those in full, omitting Questions 4 and 5, rather than refusing the request as a whole.

Question 1: As at 31 December in each of 2023, 2024 and 2025, please state:

(a) the total number of street lights maintained by the council;

(b) the number of those lights subject to part-night lighting (PNL), meaning they are switched off completely for any part of the night;

(c) the number of those lights subject to dimming, meaning they remain lit but operate at reduced brightness for any part of the night.

If figures at 31 December are not held, please use the nearest date for which they are, and state that date.

Question 2: In each of the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025, please state:

(a) the number of street light faults reported to the council;

(b) the council’s target time for repairing a standard street light fault, in working days;

(c) the number of faults repaired within that target time.

Devon County Council does not hold recorded information showing, for each requested year, the number of street-light faults reported, or the number repaired within the target time. Producing those figures would require the Council to create new information, which the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 do not require.

Question 3: In each of the financial years 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, please state

(a) the total amount spent by the council on street lighting, and of that total

(b) the amount spent on electricity.

Devon County Council does not hold this information. The street-lighting budget includes all illuminated assets and some non-illuminated assets. As expenditure is not recorded separately for street lighting, the Council cannot identify either the amount spent specifically on street lighting or the associated electricity costs.

Question 4: For part-night lighting and for dimming, please state the standard hours during which lights are switched off or dimmed (for example, midnight to 5.30am), whether those hours vary by season, and the year in which each policy was introduced.

The PNL policy was introduced in 2010, whereby lights switch off for 5 hours from 00.30am

The D69 commenced in 2016, dims as:

• Dusk to 21.30 =100% output
• 30 to 00.00 = 75%
• to 05.00 = 50%
• 00 to 06.00 = 75%
• 00 to dawn = 100%

Question 5: If readily available, please state the annual saving estimated or achieved from (a) part-night lighting and (b) dimming in the most recent financial year for which a figure exists.

Devon County Council is not able to distinguish between the savings aligned with each scheme as they took place in unison.