Street lighting in Salford
Good street lighting provides - and enhances - safety in the community for residents, pedestrians and road users. Salford City Council is committed to the provision and maintenance of quality street lighting. There are 27,600 lighting columns and 4,800 illuminated bollards and traffic signs in Salford, all of which are maintained by the Highway Services department.
Street lights are switched on and off by photo-electric control units, which react to changes in light levels. Operational hours are between dusk and dawn.
Customer Service Standards
When faulty street lights are reported or detected a repair will generally be completed within five working days. However, there are occasions where the electrical underground service cable may be faulty, and since these repairs are carried out by United Utilities they may take longer to correct.
To assist in the detection of faulty street lights and to ensure lights do not stay out for long periods, officers from the city council conduct night time patrols.
We will attend to all emergency street lighting reports within two hours and make the incident safe.
Lighting Improvements
A small proportion of the annual street lighting revenue budget is allocated to improve street lighting.
First priority is to replace or maintain lighting installations, which are structurally unsound and have reached the end of their useful life. Many of the older installations do not meet current design standards and whilst upgrading is desirable, all work must be prioritised.
Larger street lighting renewal projects are funded from capital monies such as the Government's Single Regeneration Budget or New Deal for Communities.
Recent schemes have included: Great Cheetham Street East and West, New Bailey Street, Spike Island (Phases 1, 2 and 3) and the Manchester Inner Relief Route.
Maintenance Standards
Salford attempts to reduce the chance of a street light failing by undertaking a programme of schedule maintenance on all lighting columns and signs, changing lamps just before they are likely to fail.
This is more economical than waiting for individual random failures. However, occasionally lamps do fail prematurely, or electricity supplies can develop faults. Unfortunately, street lighting and signage is also susceptible to vandalism and accident damage.
The street lighting stock is electrically tested on a six year cycle to ensure it complies with current safety regulations. A visual inspection of the condition of the installation is carried out at the same time as the electrical test.
The city council has a competitive contract for the purchase of electrical energy for all the street lighting and illuminated street furniture. Some 10% of the energy is supplied from “green energy” sources. The cost of energy for street lighting in Salford is in the region of £450,000 per annum.
Streetlighting Performance
The Government’s performance indicators for measuring local authority effectiveness include one for the number of street lights not working as planned. The indicators are published in the local and national press each year.
Although the figures can vary from year to year; the average streetlight performance indicator for Salford is 1.07% - this means that around 99% of Salford's street lights are operating correctly at any one time.
Professional and Technical Services
The Salford City Council street lighting team provide a range of services associated with lighting:
- Advice on street lighting and sign maintenance
- Street lighting design and consultancy
- Street lighting standards and adoption procedures
- Festive illuminations, design and installation
- Sports, floodlighting of buildings and exterior lighting design services
- Procurement of electrical energy
Please contact us if you would like more information about any aspect of street lighting in Salford or our professional and technical services.
Who to contact
- Name
- Highway Services
- Address
- Swinton Hall Road
Swinton
SALFORD
M27 4HH - Telephone
- 0161-909 6505
- highway.services@urbanvision.org.uk
This page was last updated on 11 October 2007
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