Streetlighting

Bournemouth Borough Council, as Highway Authority, maintains more than 20,000 streetlights, illuminated signs & bollards throughout the Borough to ensure that we reduce the risk of accidents at night, improve public safety and conserve energy on a continuous basis.

These services are achieved by a maintenance and inspection programme, which covers the vast majority of streetlights within the Borough.

Please note, the Council as Highway Authority has a duty of care to maintain public lighting in working order where it is provided. It does not have an obligation to provide lighting.

The Council has installed a computer streetlighting inventory system, which stores data relating to all the streetlights and illuminated signs across the Borough and links to our local contractor’s offices.

The computer software provides local offices with up-to-the-minute information on all streetlights, but we nevertheless still rely on light failure and damage reports received from the public, so we would ask you to report any faulty or defective streetlights using the online form or the contact details as shown in the Contact Us section below.

Standards of Service

Throughout the year, night inspections are completed approximately every 14 days to check that streetlights and illuminated signs are operational.

Notwithstanding the above mentioned night inspections, we aim to deal with your faults promptly and within the following response times:

Normal faults

Attend the site within three working days and repair or report more extensive repair or supply cable fault. In these cases repairs may take an additional 10 to 28 days to correct. Where there is an electricity supply fault, which is the responsibility of Scottish and Southern Energy plc, the repair of these faults may take an additional 10 to15 days to correct.

Emergencies

During office hours we aim to attend the site within an hour and outside office hours within two hours. Outside office hours please do not use the lighting fault line. Instead please telephone our Out of Hours emergency service on (01202) 451145.

Bournemouth Council also completes the following operations to keep all streetlights and illuminated signs fully operational and electrically safe:

Planned maintenance cleaning and visual checks

Every 24 months we carry out a visual, electrical, structural and mechanical inspection to make sure that the lights are in safe working order as well as cleaning the lantern.

Illuminated traffic bollards

Bollards are cleaned twice each year with lamps changed annually.

Lamp replacement

Lamps are routinely replaced en block, every two or four years, depending on the type of lamp.

Certified Electrical Test

All illuminated street furniture has a certified electrical test carried out every 6 years to comply with B.S.7671 Requirements for Electrical Installations. 

How do we select types of street lighting?

In designing and approving street lighting schemes we take into account the following:

• The cost of maintaining the equipment
• The durability of the equipment
• Energy efficiency
• Minimisation of light pollution

Purchase of Electricity

All electricity used for powering the street lighting in Bournemouth is provided from renewable resources (100% Green).

Gas Street Lighting

Bournemouth Council still has installed 27 lighting units powered by gas. These are situated in the conservation area of Throop and one in the town centre. These units are maintained weekly as many of the units are still operated by a clockwork mechanism to turn on the gas.

Contact Us

To enquire about streetlights or report streetlighting faults you can either use our Fault Reporting webpage as above, click to complete an online form, email us at lighting@bournemouth.gov.uk or telephone following the steps below:

1. Prior to emailing or phoning, please check the road name and the defective street light number. This number is usually found on the streetlight column about five or six feet off the ground facing the road.
2. During normal office hours please call our Customer Service Contact Centre on (01202) 451199 and an operator will take full details of the fault.
3. Out of normal office hours please call our Fault Line answer phone on (01202) 552552 and you will receive a prompt to leave a message stating the name of the road, street light number and the type of fault you are reporting.
4. Please be patient and wait about five working days for the light to be attended. Generally speaking faults will be repaired during this period of time, provided the column number is given.
5. If you require someone to telephone you regarding the repair then please leave your telephone number or other contact details.   

Please note: all faults and enquiries sent via email will be dealt with during normal office hours.

Emergencies

During office hours we aim to attend the site within an hour and outside office hours within two hours. In an emergency outside office hours, please do not use the lighting fault line. Instead, please telephone our Out of Hours emergency service on (01202) 451145.