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Westminster street lamp pay-back cut to 750 years

Now just £15m to save £20k a year

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Someone owes Westminster City Council an apology: the amortisation period on its new planet-saving street lamps is not, as we reported yesterday, an astounding 1,450 years, but a rather more modest 750 years.

To recap, the borough is upgrading all of its street lighting to incorporate new £1,000-a-hit Furyo Lanterns. This will save the council £20,000 a year but, as the BBC claimed yesterday, Westminster boasts 29,000 street lights, meaning an initial outlay of £29m and therefore a rather long time before the new kit started to actually save money.

Well, the Beeb has now updated the story with some revised figures, viz: Westminster actually has just 15,000 street lights, so it will be looking good for the ratepayers' cash in just 750 years.

Having finally got its calculator out, Auntie then moved in for the kill, demanding justification of the council. It notes: "Responding to the fact the scheme would take 750 years for the council to recoup the savings, the spokesman said it was not just a money saving measure but to save energy as well."

So there you have it. A brighter, happier future for our children and our children's children. ®

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Latest Comments

mesh wireless

if they'd had half a clue they could have installed the mesh wireless onto these devices as they were deployed......logistics eh? ;-)

I'm for the other comments regarding just replacing the head-units of the old

lamps.

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Cost-Benefit Analysis

The installation of costly lamps that won't save Westminster money for 750 years is a classic example of governmental stupidity. While not outright malfeasance, it is darn close! The comment about saving energy is astonishing. Everyone involved is obviously clueless when it comes to conducting a cost-benefit analysis! Oh, well, what the hell! It's just ratepayers' money. The plain fact is that the lamps will be long gone well before 750 years elapses. Westminster has made a huge mistake and is trying to deflect responsibility for incompetent management.

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It must be easy to spunk £15 million if it's not yours...

...especially if you aren't numerate.

(If you were, you could see what a huge waste of money this will be)

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