Up to £2.5 million is available for a contractor who will replace streetlight pillars across the borough on behalf of Swindon Borough Council.

The local authority has invited expressions of interest and bids for the contract, saying the plan is to replace old and decaying concrete pillars with metal ones.

The document inviting bids says: “Swindon Borough Council requires a supplier of street lighting columns to support the street lighting team.

“The contract will consist of providing columns to replace old and/or damaged columns, there is also a planned replacement programme planned during the life of the contract to replace all the old concrete columns, with modern metal columns."

The contract will be for an initial three years with up to two 12-month extensions available subject to satisfactory performance.
  
The bid documents say the council estimates it might spend between £750,000 and £2.25m across the initial three-year contract term and £2.42m if the contract is extended to the full five-year term.  

A spokesman for the borough council said the contract is for the supply of stock for the maintenance and repair of pillars as and when required.
  
This contract follows on from the £7m project begun a few years back to replace 26,000 lights in streetlamps with cheaper and more efficient light-emitting diodes.

Completed in 2022 the project has resulted in at least a 60 per cent reduction in energy usage and will bring savings of approximately £800,000 per year the council said.

It also made a saving in its carbon emissions as LED lights are more efficient and need less power.

Running the previous lamps was costing the authority £1.3m a year, with costs increasing as fuel prices rose.

Another aspect of the LED lamps is that they are adjustable in their intensity.

The council announced in its budget for the next year that a majority of streetlights will be dimmed at night in an effort to cut costs.

About 18,000 lights across the borough will be set to about three-quarters of normal full brightness between 10pm and 5am.

The council said a successful trial in Old Town last year showed that reducing the brightness of a streetlight by between a quarter and one half is “barely noticeable” to the human eye.

About 7,000 lights that illuminate main roads, junctions and pedestrian crossings will not be dimmed.