Straight from city council A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris

Have you noticed something different about your street recently? Allow me to shed some light. Council is upgrading its 7,000 streetlights to LED. The biggest change since electric streetlights were switched on in 1915.

The upgrade will save 2GWh of power annually. That's the equivalent of running Huntly Power Station at full-noise for two hours or the output of your average nuclear reactor over the same period.

Council received a one-time, use-it-or-lose-it, 85 per cent subsidy from NZTA so it makes financial sense for our ratepayers to do the upgrade now. Aside from the environmental and power saving benefits, the new lights will require significantly less ongoing maintenance. They're also directed at illuminating the road and not everything else, so they won't be shining directly into your bedroom at night! Another advantage is that individual streetlights can be brightened or dimmed to suit the neighbourhood.

The downside? Some of our residents have lost ornamental light fittings from their subdivisions. This was done due to cost; however, Council didn't consult on whether our ratepayers might have been prepared to pay a little more to retain these. This was largely due to the very short time Council had to make the decision, but I think it's also a perfect example of Council's attitude that needs to change. We've got to stop doing things to our residents and start doing things with our residents!

On a positive note, I found out that Council doesn't pay when streetlights malfunction and burn during the day because we only pay a fixed charge for night hours.