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Street lighting

Due to the dark evenings and mornings in the winter, the county council provides and maintains 85,500 street lamps and 7,800 illuminated signs to provide artificial light for security, comfortable travelling and to encourage the community to be able to enjoy the night time environment. 

Do you have any problems with a street lamp or illuminated traffic sign?

For emergency street lighting faults:

  • exposed cables 
  • street light or illuminated sign that has been knocked down or has something hanging loose
  • a door missing.

please report it immediately to Derbyshire County Council

  • Contact Call Derbyshire on 08 456 058 058 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday, and between 9:30am and 4pm Saturday.
  • telephone the Derbyshire Constabulary on 0345 123 3333 outside the hours listed above.

Please provide as much information as possible on the location of the fault so that we can rectify the problem quickly. Never attempt to help by covering up or touching the wiring as you could electrocute yourself.

To report all other street lighting or illuminated traffic sign faults:

Each lamp and illuminated sign has a unique identification number stenciled on it, so when reporting a fault or other problem it helps us if you can quote the identification number and also provide important details as per the example below.

Information example

  • Lamp (or illuminated sign) number 123456
  • Town, Parish, or locality Heanor, Barlow, Aldercar
  • Street (or footpath from/to) Newbold Road
  • Location Outside number 30, between number 38/40, opposite number 23
  • Problem Lamp out, or dim etc              

If you are unable to provide all of these details then every effort will be made to identify the correct lamp or illuminated sign.  Any detail given enables us to give the best possible service and keep our costs to a minimum. 

Why is lighting provided? 

  • Street Lighting reduces night time accidents and helps to reduce crime.  It also helps to reduce the fear of crime and perceived risks of crime.
  • It deters criminal acts and vandalism.
  • Social life is increased by enhancing the night time environment.
  • It provides a positive aid to commercial, leisure and tourism activities and can increase pedestrian movement during the hours of darkness.

How are lights maintained? 

All lights are usually visited at least every three years (four years for some lamps) for routine maintenance work. This process entails cleaning the lantern optics and changing the lamps.

Electrical inspection and tests together with visual structural inspections are carried out in accordance with the appropriate guidance but within 6 years. Lamps that fail before the change frequency have a guarantee and costs are recovered from the manufacturer. 

Faults are mainly detected through two weekly patrols and reports from the public. They are scheduled for repair before the next patrol. Sometimes the fault can be due to a problem on the local electricity company's service connection resulting in the loss of electrical supply.

There are usually between 200-300 a year and these take the longest time to repair as the local electricity company has to locate, excavate in the footpath (or road), and repair without disruption to any local commercial or residential supply. 

Community safety lighting initiatives 

During the last three years Community Safety lighting schemes have been installed in locations that would benefit from improved lighting, to assist in reducing crime and the fear of crime in those areas.

Particular locations were highlighted by a number of factors but mainly high incidents of crime and disorder causing residents to feel unsafe. In addition to the new lighting, illumination levels have been improved and light sources that show colours better has been provided. 

Community Safety lighting projects have been carried out with support from the following: 

  • Community safety officers
  • Community safety partnerships
  • Members of the council
  • Neighbourhood Watch
  • Derbyshire Constabulary
  • Borough and district councils
  • Parish councils.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 July 2010 09:52

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