All 17,000 Southend streetlights will have brighter, lowenergy lamps by 2018 as part of a £13.5million project.

Southend Council’s cabinet yesterday agreed a funding package to replace all the lamps in the borough with LED lights.

The council has taken out an £8.2million loan from the Green Investment Bank, which it says it will pay back from energy savings.

The Government has also supported the scheme with a £5million grant and £120,000 from the council’s own savings will be ploughed into the scheme.

The authority has been piloting the LED lamps since the start of the year, with major roads including Eastern Avenue and Royal Artillery Way getting the first set of bright lights.

However, the pilot had a host of hiccups, with some of the lanterns failing in six weeks, while others did not shine brightly enough. The council commissioned different lamps as a result.

The move towards the introduction of LED street lighting is in a direct contrast with Essex County Council, which switches off lights between 1am and 5am every night.

Martin Terry, Independent Southend councillor responsible for public protection, said: “Southend continues to be the shining light in this field across the Eastern region and certainly within Essex, where other areas only next door to us remain in early hour darkness.

“The council and its residents have wholly rejected any formof part night lighting and I amglad that this project will further help us to lead the way in LED street lighting and innovative solutions like this that reduce energy and costs, but improve the service all at the same time.

“This is a flagship invest to save project that will accelerate our already approved LED lighting programme, reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions more quickly and deliver substantial energy and maintenance savings sooner, along with reducing capital requirements in future years.”

The authority insists that its newLED lamps, as well as being brighter and having a 25 year lifespan, will save the council £25million over 25 years.

It is understood that the project could be completed as early as August 2017. A central management system, which will allow officials to adjust the brightness of the lights, will be fully functional by October that year.