Rutland village cuts street lighting energy use by 80%

The village of Market Overton in Rutland has achieved great savings in energy use, fuel bills and carbon emissions by installing LED street lighting.

The lighting replacement took place in October 2010, and was timed to coincide with the Big Switch Off week event, which took place throughout Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. The project was initiated by Market Overton Parish Council, and included the establishment of a village “green fund” of £300 a year, to support action to reduce the Market Overton’s carbon footprint.

The project was made possible through grant support of £5000 from the Climate Friendly Communities grant, which draws upon regional funds made available to the local area to support action on climate change. This grant is one part of the support made available by the Communities Cutting Carbon project, which seeks to support communities in Rutland, Leicester and Leicestershire to act locally on climate change.

Local residents were consulted through a questionnaire prior to the change and most were supportive of the installation. Feedback from this survey led to a redesign of the scheme so that lights could also be switched off overnight. Eighty percent of the street lights now switch off between the hours of midnight and 5:30am, leading to even greater savings.

Parish Council Clerk John Southerington said: “The street lighting has received a very good response from the residents – especially from the Parish Councillors when they paid October’s street lighting bill. Instead of paying the average bill of £77 to £81, October’s bill was just £15!”

For more information contact John Southerington, tel: 01664 411 600 or email: [email protected]