Cllr suggests cutting costs by switching off street lamps
An innovative proposal to switch off every second street light in Ballinasloe town could save Galway County Council thousands of euro.
It has been suggested that there is no need to have all of the street lights in the town switched on after 2am and it was recommended that every second one be switched off as a cost saving measure.
Members of Ballinasloe Municipal Council were told that there was a budget of €932,000 available this year for public lighting but all of this would be spent on maintenance and energy costs.
They were told that there was no money in the pot to provide new street lighting but Senior Roads Engineer Evan Molloy said that the street lighting needed to be upgraded to a low energy system.
But it was then that Cllr. Michael Finnerty of Fine Gael told the meeting that he was at a conference where it was explained that it was best practice in various parts of Europe to switch off street lighting at 2am.
He said that he had some difficulty with this as he was conscious of the safety of people out late at night. But he was advocating that every second light in Ballinasloe be switched off in the early hours of each morning.
Cllr. Finnerty said that there were 120 street lights along a two mile stretch through Ballinasloe town and believed that there was only need for 60 of them lit up during darkness hours.
“I know ye are saying that there is no money available for new lights, but the savings from this could loosen up a few purse strings.
“The switching off of half the lights would not inconvenience anyone in my opinion,” said Cllr. Finnerty who added that if it resulted in a saving of 10%, it would provide the Council with more than €90,000 for new lights.
However, Senior Roads Engineer Evan Molloy threw cold water on Finnerty’s suggestion on the basis that it was not possible to switch off individual lights.
But he did say that public lighting needed to be upgraded to a low energy system which would be a major cost saving measure but that this was a matter for Government.
Mr. Molloy added that he did not believe that there was a need for a street light, for example, outside a shop that was closed up at night or a community centre that was rarely used.
But Cllr. Michael Connolly contended that businesses which paid rates were entitled to the security of a street light outside their premises.