Many of older street lights are in a poor condition and need replacing. Some are more than 40 years old and just don’t meet modern standards. Orange light makes it more difficult to see colours at night and the older designs shine light in all directions, including into the night sky. The new white lighting will be directed onto roads and pavements, helping to reduce traffic accidents, crime (and the fear of crime) and make the streets safer.
SSE Enterprise Lighting will be carrying out the work on behalf of Nottingham City Council. SSE Enterprise Lighting is the largest street lighting contractor in the country and part of the SSE Group.
We will mark the new positions for the lamp posts on the public highway, usually by a white circle with the letters SL in the centre. These positions are designed to make sure that lighting levels are correct. We take great care positioning the lights and work closely with the local council to make sure there’s minimal disruption.
It isn't possible to install new lamp posts and electrical cable without digging some holes. We’ll try to dig as few as possible and fill them in again as soon as we can. Our engineers use barriers, signs and cones for safety. If the road is very busy or narrow we may have to use traffic lights to protect our workforce. The Replacement of the street lighting will be carried out over five years. We try to ensure that our works do not interfere with other works in the area.
You won’t be able to park where our engineers are digging. We will, however, try to keep as much parking space available as possible and endeavour to complete works as quickly as possible with as little disruption.
You should be able to use your driveway as normal unless we’re working directly outside your home. If we are, we may have to ask you to move your car elsewhere for a while. If you need to park close to your home (for example because you have a disability) please speak to one of our engineers and they will help you.
Bin collections should take place as normal. If necessary, we will move wheelie bins or dustbins to a single collection point away from the work site and return them when empty.
If you’re waiting for a delivery to arrive, please speak to one of our workmen. If you run a business, one of our engineers will contact you before the work starts to discuss what access you need and when. If no one has contacted you and you have some concerns, please call SSE Enterprise Lighting on 0800 0966217.
There should be no interruption to your home’s power supply during the work.
Where necessary the new lighting has been designed to meet the requirements of the British Standard and Nottingham City Council’s specification. To comply with these codes of practice and provide appropriate levels of illumination, street lights at different spacing’s are sometimes required. When spacing’s are changed, it is very unusual for the old and new columns to be in exactly the same place.
There may be a change in the number of street lighting standards. This could mean either an increase or decrease in the number of lighting columns required to light your street in the most energy efficient manner possible.
The lighting will be replaced with a white light source in all residential areas. The new lighting will be more energy efficient with improved visibility and reduced light pollution at night. It will also help to reduce our carbon emissions.
No waste material is sent to landfill. The existing lamp posts, both concrete and steel are completely recycled, as well as the lanterns.
The replacement work usually starts approximately four weeks after you receive the information leaflet through the post and is likely to take about two weeks. In certain situations it may take longer. To get up to date information on the schedule of work in your area click on http://www.lightsoninnottingham.co.uk/Public/WorkSchedule.aspx
The new lamps will be positioned so they don't shine directly into people's homes. However, if you do experience problems once the new lights are connected and working, we can sometimes fit shields to prevent light intruding. If you have any concerns about the new lighting, we’re happy to discuss the situation with you.
The lighting is designed to ensure that the adopted highway meets the requirements of the British Standard for street lighting and the specification of the Council. This means that columns cannot always be replaced in their original position. However we do offer to check the design to see if there is scope to move a column. We also carry out a site visit where required and most of the time we reach an amicable agreement on the location of the column.
Once the new lamp posts are in place and connected then the old lamp posts can then be removed. We try to do this within a few days but it may take a little longer as we have to ask the local electricity company to do the work. We plan the work carefully so the street isn't left without lighting.
The lighting is installed in accordance of the British Standard for street lighting and the specification of the council to provide lighting to adopted highway, we understand that some residents have had the benefit of lighting from the existing system but we cannot always replace them in the original positions and therefore the benefit cannot always be retained.
If the footpath is Adopted Highway consideration for additional lighting will be assessed on a case by case basis. However, if the footpath is not Adopted Highway unfortunately we will not be able to provide any additional lighting.