THE Vale council is set to apply for funding to help continue its work in switching street lights to LED in a bid to save money and energy.

A report due to go before cabinet on Monday (January 22) will recommend that the council submits an interest free loan application to Salix Finance Ltd.

The scheme predicted to save the council £371,862.71 per year in street lighting energy costs and 1,338 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

The report says the council does not have sufficient funds to implement conversion of the remaining main road lanterns to LED in the short to medium term so alternative options for funding the scheme have been considered.

Welsh Government is currently working with Salix Finance Ltd to provide interest-free loans for energy efficiency projects in the public sector which the council hopes to take advantage of.

Two business cases have been developed with the council preferring option one which involves replacing 3,895 standard conventional type street lighting lanterns with LED lanterns on main roads, and incorporates a CMS system.

Newly installed LED lanterns on main roads would be dimmed between 10pm and midnight by 25 per cent and then from midnight to 6am by 50 per cent.

The total cost of the project is estimated at £2,302,832 (including 1.5 per cent consultant and project management fees) and will achieve an estimated energy saving of £239,510 per year.

Cabinet decided in 2014 to implement a full move to LED lighting over time and as funding became available, with part-night lighting introduced immediately for all appropriate areas of

conventional street lighting in the mean time.

The part night lighting has seen street lights switched off between midnight and 6am in some areas.

The number of street lighting lanterns currently converted to LED is 5,304 which represents 33 per cent of the council's total street lighting lanterns.

There are currently some 6,819 units throughout the council's local residential highway network converted to part-night lighting but the proposed project to dim LED lights at midnight and convert all residential street lighting to LED is nearing the installation stage.

A Part Night Lighting Project Board comprising officers from highways and engineering, road safety, community safety and the police and a risk assessment carried out to determine which lanterns could safely be turned off.

The move to part night lighting was implemented between June 2015 and December 2015 throughout the Vale but it only proved possible to use part-night lighting for 65 per cent of the council's conventional lighting stock.

This meant the projected full year energy cost saving is now £217,000 with a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 1042 tonnes but the implementation costs were less than those predicted.

The report highlights that there have been a number of complaints received from residents who feel that the absence of lighting after midnight increases opportunities for crime disorder, whilst also reducing the safety of some highway routes.

The council says there is no evidence of this but some residents still feel that the absence of lighting after midnight is having a negative impact in certain areas.