Although contractors around the world are trying to upgrade the lighting to LED before the project deadline to avoid being fined, there is a local government that has taken a very "loose" attitude.
According to reports, Shropshire County Council in the central England demanded an upgrade by 2054.
Three years ago, Shropshire began to replace more than 18,000 street lights, mainly high-pressure sodium lamps, but such a slow installation speed meant that the grandsons of these members would see the installation of the last LED street light.
George Candler, the director of the local and corporate parliament, told local newspapers that so far only 3,169 LEDs have been installed. “The council arranges replacement of 450 to 500 street lamps each year, but it needs financial support, which means that it takes at least 36 years to complete the replacement of the LED.”
The reason for this problem is the financial issue. He told the media that in the past four years, the City Council has steadily increased the money spent on installing, operating, and maintaining street lighting.
In the 2015/16 financial year, the parliament spent 1.64 million pounds (approximately 14.75 million yuan), increased to 1.67 million pounds in 2016/17, 1.89 million pounds in 2017/18, and a budget of 1.99 million pounds in the new fiscal year.
Unfortunately, Shropshire stated that when the work is finally completed, it does not expect to save any cost in the street lighting budget, as any efficiency advantage will be offset by the cost of installing more street lights and rising electricity prices.