As ILP members gather in Daventry for Lighting Live Local Authority, members of the ILP’s Local Authority Lighting Committee unpick some of the key challenges facing council lighting teams.
Skills and talent shortages, money and funding worries, attachments (official and unofficial), creaking assets, local government reorganisation – there is a lot keeping local authority lighting teams tossing and turning in the wee hours right now.
Moreover, as ILP members gather in the next few days at Daventry for Lighting Live Local Authority there is a lot to mull over and discuss, whether you’re coming at it from within or outside a local council.
As Rob Baines, the ILP’s local authority lead as well as electrical assets commissioner, Highways and Place, at Derbyshire County Council, highlighted in the November/December edition of Lighting Journal, last summer the ILP carried out a survey of local authority members to gauge their mood and outlook right now.
The poll asked local authority ILP members ‘what five things are keeping you awake at night?’. To recap, from the more than 100 members who responded, ‘skills and experience’ (or a lack of) was the top concern, followed by ‘funding’ (or again a lack of) and ‘attachments’.
This last headache, of course, was less about ‘a lack of’ and more about the plethora of attachments now on our lighting columns – sensors, CCTV, EV chargers and the like – now of course compounded by the issue of unofficial attachments (flags) fluttering from poles up and down the country. Alongside this, Rob highlighted, there was the challenge of unapproved Christmas lights with unsafe electrical connections. ‘Local authorities are left between keeping the public safe and the backlash of disconnection. Add into the mix the constant education of third parties who attach what they want where they want asking forgiveness after the event,’ he said.
One of the themes of Lighting Live Local Authority will be ‘commercialisation’, or how local authorities can, essentially, make a bit of cash – benefit more financially – from this growing appetite for attachments.
To that end, ahead of Daventry, Lighting Journal brought together members of the ILP’s Local Authority Lighting Committee to mull over and discuss some of these issues, given that they are set to be conversations at the heart of that event, whether in the hall itself or on the fringes.
As Rob explained, opening the proceedings: ‘What can the ILP do to help local authority members? Obviously, the ILP can’t guarantee more money for local authority lighting teams but if, say, for example they are using their assets in ways that could perhaps be commercialised, can they be helped to recognise that and take that forward?’
COMMERCIALISATION AND ATTACHMENTS
Richard Webster, streetlighting services manager at Suffolk County Council, provided an overview of the authority’s approach to maximising the financial potential of its streetlighting assets, emphasising the importance of diversifying income streams and adopting strategies to offset operational costs.
Richard explained that one of the established revenue sources is the licensing of attachments to lighting columns. When a promoter requests an attachment, the council conducts an EN40 structural test to confirm suitability. Once approved, a licence is issued, ensuring compliance and generating income.
‘However, the most significant income is derived from third party works. Suffolk actively seeks opportunities to collaborate with other local authorities, contractors, and developers. Working closely with its term maintenance contractor, the council offers services such as installation and management of central management systems (CMS) as well as traditional maintenance and installation/replacement works,’ he said.
Richard noted that the team also undertakes maintenance for other local authorities that retain ownership of their assets but require technical assistance. While the local authorities retain ownership of the assets, Suffolk assumes responsibility for all maintenance and new works.
‘While there is no direct incentive for the team, the income helps offset staff costs, contributing to overall financial resilience,’ he said.
Innovation was another key point raised. The council trials emerging technologies, as an example, camera adaptive lighting, on a small scale to build business cases for wider roll out. Where a target return on investment of five years or better is achieved, capital funding is sought to fund any initiative.
Richard concluded by highlighting the role of his experienced and proactive team. ‘I am very fortunate that the team have all worked in lighting for many years, both in the private and public sector. There seems to be a real appetite to take on more work with an ultimate aim to offset staff costs,’ he said.
‘On commercialisation, we are doing similar things,’ agreed Perry Hazell, business manager, Asset Management Services, at Southwark Council. ‘We’ve got EV charging, telecoms communications in regard to small cells attachments, banners, sensor deployment, advertising – not just on banners but even some standalone advertising on-street, and even EV charging infrastructure with added advertising! So it is a big mixture.
‘Third-party claims, is something we have strengthened over the past couple of years, anything between £20,000 to £30,000 a year for us, which is quite considerable when you think we’ve only got 18,000 assets. We’re around £400,000 turnover in terms of external lighting work, so there is massive potential there,’ he added.
‘We’re a DLO so we are often proactive and go out to win works internally and externally. I think there needs to be more of a focus cross department within local authorities, there is often a lot of internal work that is externalised. We have, for example, the active travel team looking at certain things; the net zero team looking at building lights and so on. Sometimes they will go out and engage with their own contractor rather than coming back to the in-house team. So, it is about trying to keep as much external money being spent in the council as we can. We’re really trying to focus on that,’ Perry continued.
‘But it is also a capacity challenge. If you’ve only got a small lighting team, it is very difficult to make the council, or the wider local authority, aware of what you do and what you can do. We also try to link lighting to community upgrades and community safety, which helps because you may have a lead member pushing for additional funding.
‘Cost recovery is another big thing for us. If it’s commuted sums, where we have building works going on that are non-standard, making sure we’re getting commuted sums in. Making sure we’re recovering any third-party damages. It is small little things that all add up,’ Perry said.
THIRD-PARTY WORKS
Paul Brownbridge, lighting engineer at Stainton Lighting Design Services – so coming at this more from a private sector perspective – agreed third-party works could be a potentially lucrative revenue stream for local authorities.
‘A local authority I’ve been involved with recently, for example, they don’t allow any design and install from third parties, it has all got to be through the DLO. The way they sell it is that once that equipment is installed the local authority team takes ownership of it straightaway. So, any maintenance, repairs, energy, is all paid for by the local authority rather than the developer. But the developer has to go through the local authority in the first place to get it adopted, which then, clearly, is a revenue stream for the local authority,’ he pointed out.
‘Commercialisation within local authorities is getting stronger, I believe, and certainly within engineering,’ agreed Michala Medcalf, street lighting manager at Derby City Council and ILP Senior President Elect
‘I’ve moved from a highways background into engineering; at highways we did the basic recovery, we didn’t offer any highways design outside of the organisation. And we didn’t offer any of our workforce outside of the organisation. That has changed,’ Michala added.
‘For those organisations that still have a DLO arrangement, or a significant street lighting team, there is opportunity to ensure that any Section 38 and 278 designs fall under the developer standard specification and so could be delivered through the authority. And speaking to developers, they much wouldwould much prefer that, because it seems an easy pass through from the actual application of Section 38s through to a successful adoption.
‘If the local authority is on board and are part of design and technical approval [process] right from the outset it makes that adoption and accrual process a lot slicker for the developer, which means they get their ‘bond’ back. Ultimately, they want their money back that we’re sitting on.
‘I think a lot of it is ultimately around resources. In some authorities it works really well because they have scaled up to accommodate things. In others, such as myself, we couldn’t possibly do it because of the size we have in lighting. But it is changing,’ she added.
‘I think we’re getting much cleverer now with asset management and digitalising asset information. With all our CMS data coming back, sensors that we have out on the network, there are massive datasets that I don’t think we’ve ever had as a local authority,’ agreed Perry.
‘Now, we’re starting to see that being shared across the council and in doing so utilising that, whether it is proactive maintenance or for capital investment decisions.
‘So, there is a piece about getting the right information across from developers, even if we don’t do the work. Or that we are just in a better place because we’re managing our own assets digitally now. It is becoming easier as a council to manage that and to talk between cross-sectional areas,’ he added.
SKILLS SHORTAGES
Turning to skills and talent shortages, this is an area where, of course, the ILP has been very active over the past couple of years – largely led by Perry Hazell – through its Pathways into Lighting and Project Light Ville initiatives, which have been a key part of the Institution’s Strategy 2026, in particular SIP04. Perry discussed Project Light Ville in particular in the journal back in 2024, (‘Next-level learning’, October 2024, vol 89 no 9).
‘For me, it is important simply highlighting lighting as an industry, this has been a big part of the whole pathways into lighting project,’ Perry said.
‘It is modernising that engineer appeal to get people into lighting. Everyone is thinking about EVs, about nautical and aerospace engineering – actually, for us, we’ve got a lot of cool jobs within lighting, and I don’t think we’ve been selling that very well across the UK and Ireland,’ he added.
‘I’m hoping Project Light Ville, Pathways into Lighting, and individual councils like us can make a difference. For example, in Southwark we’re developing a work experience handbook that will have lighting within it. It might be where, say, students design their own lighting column, or their own street, whatever that looks like.
‘It is just getting them thinking about lighting, which is something we’ve never had. Then you can start to grow the talent, link into the apprenticeships and so on. But if you don’t have anyone interested in lighting from Year 10 up, maybe younger, then they’re just not going to join,’ Perry continued.
Michala Medcalfe also highlighted feedback she had had from conversations with new young lighters in her council. One key barrier was the perception that responsibility and burden of working in a local authority was disproportionate to that of working compared in the private sector, with pay generally lower too to boot. Or, as she put it: ‘You get a lot more responsibility and a lot more grief, and the pay and reward for that isn’t there either.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION
As the conversation drew to a close, the panel was asked to consider the possible impact of local government reorganisation [LGR] or devolution on local authority lighting teams, especially given that street lighting is not a statutory responsibility for councils.
Local governmental devolution will create a new system of single-tier, unitary, local authorities in England, replacing the current two-tier structure of county and district councils. Authorities had until the end of November to make their business case submissions to be into government, although the final shape of what this reorganisation may look like is unlikely to become clear until this summer, at the earliest.
The uncertainty this is creating at all levels of local government was something very much highlighted by our panel. As Rob Baines put it: ‘Local government reorganisation is going to be a tough one; I don’t think any of us truly know what’s happening.’
‘LGR is on the radar of every authority at the moment I think,’ agreed Michala Medcalf. ‘There is a great deal of uncertainty. Not all of the county councils and city councils are lined up with the same plan, I imagine for political reasons. But one of the biggest fears is that it will come at a time – around 2028 – where a lot of the workforce will be mid to late 50s.
‘These people are the core of many local authority workplaces. Most of them, I fear, are going to look at LGR and go “I’m out the door, thank you very much”. We are already at a tipping point with skills and resource shortages, and I think in the next three years it is going to get incredibly difficult.
‘If we’re not careful, I think it will go beyond the point of no return. Between now and 2028, we’ve got to see some grassroots – some improvement – from all the hard work that people like Perry have been doing. Whether that’s improvements in recruitment and retention, apprentices, the syllabus and so on. LGR worries me a lot. LGR is probably going to touch most local authorities in England,’ she added.
Alongside this, Perry Hazell highlighted the possible impact of the Fair Funding Review, which is set to set out local authority funding for 2026 to 2027 through the Local Government Finance Settlement. Inner-London boroughs, he pointed out, could as a result take a massive 28% hit on their funding.
Michala Medcalf also pointed to the inconsistencies in the current funding model many local authority lighting are working within. ‘When we get to Daventry, I think most local authorities in the room will tell you they are cap X [capital expenditure] rich but revenue is non-existent.
‘We can’t pull a rabbit that isn’t there out of a hat. I’ve been given millions of pounds to put in active travel routes, smart city tech, or whatever. Whatever it is, we will make it transformational. But who’s looking after it and maintaining it? That’s the challenge for us.
‘The model is wrong. We struggle to spend capital – they come to you and say, “here’s £200m, spend it by March”. And it’s, “what do we do with this?”,’ Michala added.
OPPORTUNITY OF LIGHTING LIVE LOCAL AUTHORITY
Events like Lighting Live Local Authority are a precious opportunity for local authority lighting professionals to come together to talk about ‘the good stuff we’re doing’, emphasised Perry Hazell.
‘Being able to share with others what went wrong and what went right; that is hugely valuable. I also think it is the only way we’re going to accelerate that collaboration and communication we need,’ he said.
‘There is some really good work going on, but we often just don’t know about it. It’s not always things from the stage either; those coffee or lunch break conversations you can have are gold dust. In my experience in fact, they are often where all the good ideas come from!’ Perry added.
‘Yes, it is sometimes difficult to get out,’ agreed Richard Webster, in conclusion. ‘But I do think people are finding out more the benefits of doing that. There is nothing worse than falling into the same pitfalls and covering the same ground as someone else has, who you could have learned from at an event and then avoided.’
‘Over the last six months, my team has started to make more concerted effort to attend events, even though it is sometimes difficult being in East Anglia. But it is something we are trying to do more of.
This is an abridged version of the article that appears in the February edition of Lighting Journal. To read the full article, simply click on the page-turner to your right.
Image: streetlights at night, Pexels
THE PANEL
- Rob Baines, Chair ILP Local Authority Lighting Committee, electrical assets commissioner, Highways and Place, at Derbyshire County Council
- Paul Brownbridge, lighting engineer, Stainton Lighting Design Services
- Perry Hazell, business manager, Asset Management Services, Southwark Council
- Michala Medcalf, ILP Senior President Elect, street lighting manager, Derby City Council
- Nic Paton, editor, Lighting Journal (chair)
- Richard Webster, street lighting services manager, Suffolk County Council
