Great Yarmouth’s famous seafront is going green over the coming weeks as the rollout of low carbon LED streetlights in Norfolk has moved to the east coast town. Work is now well underway to switch the 195 old lights along Marine Parade and nearby roads to efficient new LEDs. A total of 15,000 lights are being upgraded across the county by 2023, a figure which will add to the 22,000 lights that have already been converted to LED since 2008. This has saved 12,500 tonnes of CO2. Cllr Martin Wilby, Norfolk County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Transport, said: “Our major LED upgrade programme is one piece of the considerable work we have planned to achieve our ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral as an authority by 2030. “Replacing thousands of high energy consuming streetlights with efficient new LED lights allows us to cut carbon emissions and save money too.” For each street that is upgraded to LED lights the average percentage energy saving is about 60%. Many of the LEDs can also be controlled remotely saving on staff time and travel. The LED upgrade work links closely with the county council’s pledge to achieve net zero carbon by 2030, as part of the authority’s Environmental Policy which was adopted in November 2019. A report on the progress so far and next steps for the Environmental Policy was considered by Cabinet this morning, Monday 8 November.
