Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to issue updated guidance to local authorities on balancing carbon reduction initiatives with pedestrian and road user safety in relation to street lighting.

The management of street lighting in England is the responsibility of local highway authorities, such as Dorset Council. They have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highways in their charge, including street lighting. Local authorities do not have a duty to light their networks but, where lighting has been provided, the authority has a duty to maintain it.

The Department is funding “Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads in the UK”, a three-year, UK-wide £30 million programme that aims to help decarbonise the local highway network. Learning and best practice from this programme will be shared with all highway authorities. One of the projects is trialling innovative ways to reduce the carbon emissions from streetlighting while also making roads safer.

The Department has also started the process of reviewing the UK Roads Leadership Group’s (UKRLG) ‘Well Managed-Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice’, which provides guidance for highway authorities and their contractors on all aspects of highway infrastructure, including street lighting. This will take account of lessons learned from the Live Labs 2 trials.