A £7m project is under way to upgrade Bournemouth's 16,500 street lights with low-energy LEDs in a bid to save the borough council more than £30m. The authority said using bright white lights instead of traditional orange sodium lamps would cuts costs and reduce energy consumption. It hopes to save £32.2m against projected costs over 20 years. The council currently spends £1.1m a year on street lighting energy. The work will take some months to complete.

Conservative councillor Michael Filer, portfolio holder for transport, said the town's lighting network was "in need of modernising". "Once installed the new lights will lead to a 73% energy saving in current street lighting consumption which equates to large environmental and financial savings," he added. Some 15,000 lanterns, 1,100 columns and lanterns and 500 illuminated bollards will be replaced with the "crisper, brighter" light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The project is being funded through £4.26m from Salix, a government energy projects funding provider, with the remaining £3.5m coming from the council.