The high quality of bids from councils seeking private investment to upgrade streetlighting has persuaded ministers to inject an extra £94M into the latest PFI round, the Department for Transport said this week.
It also revealed that one bidder failed to win a share of the £694M in PFI credits but declined to name the authority which ‘has been given another chance to submit an expression of interest’.
The 15 successful bidders were: Blackpool, Cambridgeshire, Coventry, Croydon/Lewisham, Cumbria, Hampshire, Harrow, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, Oldham, Rochdale, Sheffield, Southampton, West Sussex which now takes number of councils in England with PFI support for streetlighting schemes to 35.
Fifteen have already signed contracts to replace time-expired columns and upgrade lighting, backed by £401M in credits and a further five are in procurement. Another £600M has been earmarked for a round of highway maintenance schemes that may include lighting. Only about half the columns replaced under PFI are life-expired. The backlog estimate is based on columns over 40 years old and represents 30% of England’s lighting stock.
Industry figures are unsure about the future contribution of PFI. The DfT has hinted it would consider a further round, but rising energy costs could deter future bidders, warned David Coatham of the Institution of Lighting Engineers
The industry had originally estimated that up to 45 of England’s 150 authorities would pursue PFI schemes but despite the fact that new lamps are more energy-efficient, replacement schemes have inevitably resulted in more columns, higher lighting standards and increased electricity costs.
Roger Elphick, chair of the UK Lighting Board, told Surveyor: ‘We’re perhaps reaching a point where all those who put a case forward for PFI have done so.’
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