The ILP surveyed local authority members over the summer to find out what was most keeping them awake at night. Skills, asset management, attachments, and funding were all up there on the list.
By Rob Baines
With how busy it has been for all local authority lighting teams since the summer, just getting to the end of this year will feel like an achievement for many.
However, while 2026 may feel a long way off, it really isn’t. In fact, the ILP’s Lighting Live – Local Authority in Daventry is coming up fast. And more on that in a moment.
As part of our preparation for Daventry – and really to gauge the mood and temperature of local authority lighting right now – we during July and August reached out to local authority ILP members to carry out a survey on, essentially, ‘what five things are keeping you awake at night?’.
A total of 107 members responded, encompassing 25 local authorities which, given the time and workload pressures we’re all under, was a very positive outcome. I’d like to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all the local authorities that took part.
LACK OF SKILLS AND FUNDING
So, what did we find? ‘Skills and experience’ (or a lack of) was top, followed by ‘funding’ (or again a lack of) and ‘attachments’.
For the latter, rather than ‘a lack of’ it is the opposite – the plethora of attachments now on our lighting columns – that is the issue and concern, everything from sensors to EV charging, festive lighting to CCTV and beyond.
Everyone wants to attach things to a column to the point that the light on the top is almost forgotten about. It has become a structural pole with things hanging off it.
As one member put it on skills: ‘How do we get more of the skillsets we need for a street lighting electrician or any profession within the street lighting sector. Are apprenticeships schemes the answer and where do we start?’
‘The number of attachments is increasing,’ said another. ‘CCTV, small cells, festive, EV, traffic sensors, other sensors, not forgetting neighbourhood watch signs and so on. How fatigued would the street lighting column be if all these attachments are on them?’
Some of these issues, of course, bleed together. A lack of funding can mean your hiring budget gets frozen or, because people aren’t being replaced, those who do join are quickly worked to the bone and leave.
It can mean your poorly-maintained council building becomes less attractive than the posh office of the private contractor up the road and what you are able to offer in terms of salary is less competitive.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEVOLUTION
It can mean, while you may have capital funding for, say, new infrastructure, your maintenance budget has been cut to the bone. Then on top of it all there is the looming issue of local government devolution and what this may mean for local authority lighting teams.
As one member articulated to us: ‘How will the formation of new combined authority councils in Cambridgeshire bring together the management of lighting assets from three or four councils to form a new council?
‘Each existing council is likely to have different standards, specifications, lighting standards when combining highway and footpath lighting. How have others done this and what can we learn from that?’
All these questions, and more, are set to be discussed at the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel in Northamptonshire on Thursday 5 February.
A key theme for the day, too, will be ‘commercialisation’, or how local authorities can maximise the funding potential from all these new column attachments.
It promises to be a truly engaging and inspiring day, and so please do get it into your 2026 diary.
A call for papers went out over the autumn and there will be a full update and preview in the January edition of Lighting Journal. The registration details are below.
Local authority lighting teams, it is clear, are facing significant challenges right now, and the environment does not look like it will get easier anytime soon.
But by coming together, talking and sharing our knowledge, expertise and insight we can start to find a way forward.
Rob Baines is the ILP’s local authority lead as well as electrical assets commissioner, Highways and Place, at Derbyshire County Council.
This is an abridged version of the article that appears in the November-December edition of Lighting Journal. To read the full article, simply click on the page-turner to your right.
Image: the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel, venue for February’s Lighting Live – Local Authority. Full details of how to register can be found at https://theilp.org.uk/events/
