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The largest County Street Lighting PFI Project in the country

Surrey County Council are currently developing a street lighting replacement programme that will enable them to replace up to 85% of all the County's street lighting. It's an exciting opportunity to replace much of their aging stock of lighting columns, to make town centres safer through improved lighting schemes, and to make full use of new energy-efficient equipment.

The project is called Street Lighting PFI Project (Private Finance Initiative) and is a particular form of Public Private Parternship (PPP). It is where the service provider will design, build, finance and operate the street lighting on our behalf.

They are presently negotiating with two consortia and a contract is due to be let early in 2009. The work to replace the street lighting columns will then follow during the next five years.

According to Public Private Partnerships Programme (4ps), using the PFI for the provision of the street lighting service allows a Local Authority to obtain investment in better apparatus to improve the safety and performance of the street lighting service. The 'spend to save' benefits of this approach, together with the benefits of procuring the whole service rather than the individual components, is demonstrating that procurement of the service through the PFI is a better way to optimise whole-life costs and service delivery.

The PFI also helps to focus attention on the service delivery aspects, encouraging Local Authorities to look at the strategic needs of users by considering whole-life issues, rather than just on the procurement of new assets. For street lighting, this means that attention is focused on the lighting service to be delivered, rather than solely on the technical specification of the equipment. If the lights are on and meet the specified lighting outputs, the Service Provider will get paid; failure to meet the light output targets and service requirements would result in payment deductions.

What is Private Finance Initiative (PFI)?

 A public private partnership is a broad term that encompasses a number of partnership options for service delivery. The PFI is one form of public private partnership, and is particularly relevant for capital-intensive services. The PFI transforms Local Authorities from being the owners and operators of assets, to the purchasers of services. In the Surrey Street Lighting PFI, a private sector Street Lighting Service Provider will be given responsibility for designing, installing, financing and operating assets, from which a public service is delivered.

What's the difference between PFI and PPP?

Although we are using the terms PFI (Private Finance Initiative) and PPP (Private Public Partnership) they are not the same; the PFI is a type of PPP.

Benefits of PFI

According to 4ps - Public Private Partnerships Programme, the local government procurement expert, using the PFI for the provision of the street lighting service allows a Local Authority to obtain investment in better apparatus to improve the safety and performance of the street lighting service. The ‘spend to save’ benefits of this approach, together with the benefits of procuring the whole service rather than the individual components, is demonstrating that procurement of the service through the PFI is a better way to optimise whole-life costs and service delivery.

The PFI also helps to focus attention on the service delivery aspects, encouraging Local Authorities to look at the strategic needs of users by considering whole-life issues, rather than just on the procurement of new assets. For street lighting, this means that attention is focused on the lighting service to be delivered, rather than solely on the technical specification of the equipment. If the lights are on and meet the specified lighting outputs, the Service Provider will get paid; failure to meet the light output targets and service requirements would result in payment deductions.

Why do we need it?

Many of our streetlights are old and in need of replacement. Without the Government's money we would not be able to undertake such a large replacement programme. Additionally, many of our town centres need to be lit to a higher standard to make people feel safe and to encourage them to use them after dark. The replacement programme includes new technology lamps which are more efficient and effective.

What is the cost, and who pays?

The Government have provided PFI credits of £65.6 m for this project. We will fund the remainder of the cost of running the programme for the next 25 years.

Can PFI money be used for anything else

No. It is ring-fenced to the PFI project.

Who will do the work?

We will appoint a contractor, who may in turn appoint subcontractors. Our existing staff will work on the PFI scheme alongside the contractor's teams. Some will be based at central headquarters; others will work in local area teams.

To what standard?

Our target is a safe environment for work, play and travel through appropriately lit roads and streets. British and EU standard apply to positioning of columns and levels of illumination.

What does the Street Lighting PFI cover?

The PFI agreement will cover the county's street lighting and illuminated signs and bollards

The initial replacement of almost 75,000 columns

Adding, replacing and repairing street lights

The upkeep of road signs and lit-up bollards

Can the PFI deal with changing local needs?

Yes. We will work in partnership with the PFI partner to identify and deal with needs as they arise.

How quickly can repairs be done?

The contractor will have to match or improve on our normal standard of performance in response and repair times. We'll check the records regularly to make sure this happens.

Will all this work bring the county to a standstill?

No – the replacement programme won’t happen all at once. Most of the replacement work will be done in the first 5 years.

Maintenance is a regular long-term undertaking. The contractors will get only a portion of their money each year, so they will probably choose to plan the work in stages rather than take on too much too quickly.

When is all the replacement work likely to start?

The replacement programme will start early in 2008 and will continue until 2013.

When will the street lights in my area be replaced?

It is too early to tell at the moment, but we will be publishing information about the affected areas when we have further details, probably early in 2008

Key issues facing us for street lighting

Rural roads

Surrey has rural roads where lighting is for direction and guidance only. To avoid urbanising such areas we will maintain the existing quantities of apparatus on a point for point basis but replace it with modern equipment and light sources when replacement becomes necessary.

Many of these systems will be in the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) or conservation areas in small villages and we hope that this approach will ensure that the ambience of these areas will be preserved.

Urban and residential roads

Urban residential roads and associated footways, typically adjacent to Victorian town housing and 1930s detached housing, have lighting provided by converted gas columns or old cast iron columns spaced at up to 100m apart. Many residents want to maintain the existing columns and levels of illumination because they are in keeping with the area and are more visually acceptable.

We will try to update existing apparatus and infill with similar but modern equipment. However, this can only be done where the existing apparatus is suitable for updating and where road safety and crime needs are below the norm. If the apparatus is not suitable for updating, lighting to modern standards will be installed.

Residential area

Residential estates are located primarily on the urban fringe where the existing locations of lighting columns do not suit the requirements of modern lighting system nor have the recommended optimum spacing. Additionally, residents tend to be used to the current location of streetlights and are unhappy with the disruption of having them relocated.

Notwithstanding this, the differences in the standard of lighting provided using point for point renewal as against a purpose designed system can be very small whilst still providing a substantial increase in the lighting levels from the use of modern luminaires and slightly higher mounting heights and the occasional additional lighting column. We will endeavour where possible to minimise the disruption of relocating street lights in residential areas.

Street lighting PFI project - facts and figures

Key Facts

• The current street lighting and road signage stock consists of approximately:
• 86,000 lighting points
• 17,000 bollards and illuminated signs.
• Approximately 85% of the columns are over 25 years old or do not meet modern lighting or safety standards, and therefore need replacing.

We manage:

4,000 miles of roads

221 conservation areas

38 Grade 2 listed street lighting columns. These are situated at:

Castle Street in Farnham

Hampton Court Bridge

Leatherhead Town Bridge

Chertsey Bridge

Unstead Bridge.

This is the largest County Street Lighting Project PFI in the country.

A contractor will provide and maintain street lighting, illuminated signage and bollards on Council-owned roads in Surrey for a period of 25 years.

Key Issues

There is a high fear of crime or perception of crime across Surrey which prevents people going out at night.

We estimates that upgrading the street lighting to European standards will reduce night-time crime by approximately 10%.

Surrey has a high level of car ownership and higher than average road traffic accidents per resident. Many accidents occur in the evening and night time.

We expect improved street lighting to reduce the number of road accidents in Surrey.

Aims for the Street Lighting PF

We have identified the following purposes of good street lighting:

• To promote public safety, including the deterrence of offences against the person, burglary and car crime
• To provide safe pedestrian and vehicular traffic movements. Academic studies have shown that good street lighting can save
• To reduce the fear of crime and engender a feeling of well-being in the use of the street at night
• To reduce the risk of vehicular accidents with attendant risks of personal injury and property damage
• To reverse urban decay and perceptions of environmental neglect
• To reduce nightglow.

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