Council chiefs have signed off plans to invest £7 million to turn more than 16,000 street lights LED in the county.

Shropshire Council will turn 16,523 lights that aren’t already LED over the next three years.

Councillor Simon Harris, member for Broseley, said his town made the switch earlier this year and said it was a “fantastic scheme” with 178 lights completed.

He added: “The work men were fantastic, the whole town has benefited and this is a great thing for the county.”

The move will cost £6.83 million, but will save the authority £506,533 per year in bills.

More than 3,000 lights in the county have already been switched.

Councillor Steve Davenport, cabinet member for highways, said: “It is a good scheme that will result in us saving £1million annually in total.

“We currently have men in vans going around checking lights and this will help them.”

Councillor Dean Carroll, cabinet member for climate change added: “This will be a huge benefit to our efforts to tackle climate change.

“I urge everyone to support it.”

Councillor Viv Parry said the scheme was first mentioned five years ago and said it was a shame that the switch had not been made sooner.

Mark Barrow, director of place, said in a report to full council: “Shropshire Council wishes to invest within its remaining 16,253 street lights that are located across the county, to replace the traditional street lighting bulbs with LED replacement, and where required replace the street lighting columns.

“The LED conversion programme will contribute significantly to reduced energy consumption and will be intrinsic to the delivery of the council’s environment agenda, by reducing the consumption of electric by 56 per cent over the working period.

“The council currently spends approximately £1 million each year on energy for street lighting. 

“Recent projections indicate energy costs for street lighting will rise by between five per cent and 14 per cent over the next 10 years which could mean the annual cost increasing to nearly £3.7 million in that time and as high as £13.7 million in 20 years if prices rose by 14 per cent each year. 

“This forecast is clearly unsustainable, and a change in the approach is required.”

He added: “By investing approximately £6.83 million over three years to convert the council’s 16,253 street lights to LED, it would reduce their consumption by 56 per cent saving approximately £506,533 per year (at today’s prices) in energy and a reduction in maintenance costs of an estimated £390,899 per year.

“In order to achieve the above intention, full council is asked to approve that Shropshire Council applies to SALIX (a government agency) for an interest-free loan, supported with identified and approved SC finance to deliver a total budget of £6,824,011 for the three years of the programme to deliver the improvements and changes.”