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Street Lighting Partnership Agreement

Perth and Kinross Council · 29 May 2024
Back to Economy and Infrastructure Committee — 29 May 2024 and its agenda

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Perth And Kinross Council 
Economy & Infrastructure Committee 
29 May 2024 
STREET LIGHTING PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT 
Report by Strategic Lead, Environment & Infrastructure 
(Report No. 24/161) 
1. PURPOSE OF REPORT 
1.1. The purpose of this report is to seek approval to extend the existing
partnership agreement with Dundee City Council, Angus Council and Tayside
Contracts for the shared service delivery of Street Lighting across the
geographical areas of all three councils. Dundee City agreed a 5 year
extension on 23 January 2023 and this report, in order to tie-in with that
period, requests a 5 year agreement period to 31 March 2028.   
2. RECOMMENDATION 
2.1 It is recommended that the Committee: 
• note the contents of this report and agree the continued method of
service delivery by means of a 5 year Partnering Agreement. 
• agrees that the SLP will report performance to Committee annually as
part of the Council’s performance management framework. 
3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 
3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: 
• Section 4: Background/Main Issues 
• Section 5: Proposals   
4. BACKGROUND / MAIN ISSUES 
4.1 The existing Street Lighting Partnership between Perth & Kinross Council, 
Dundee City Council, Angus Council and Tayside Contracts has existed in its
current successful form since 2006, albeit Angus Council only joined in 2020. 
This was the first partnership in this form and over the last 17 years, it has
consistently performed well against its various objectives and key service
performance indicators. The Street Lighting Partnership is fully committed to
the Roads Asset Management Planning framework and all Street lighting
inspections, repairs, inventory and records are held and updated
electronically.

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4.2 Full performance data is included in the annual Roads Asset Status Report
(Report no 18/364) . 
4.3 The Street Lighting Partnership has historically performed well and over the
years gained national recognition of its level of service and service approach. 
In 2008, it reached the finals of the Association of Public Service Excellence
(APSE) awards in the Public/Public Partnership category. In 2010, it was a
finalist in the APSE Best Performing category. In 2013, The Council was
shortlisted for a UK National Award ‘Best and Most Improved Performer’ for
the delivery of Street Lighting. 
4.4 The Partnership operates as an integrated team under a single Street Lighting
Partnership Manager who covers Perth and Kinross Council, Dundee City
Council and Angus Council and has many benefits for all three local
authorities and Tayside Contracts.  These include: 
• The larger team based across all three Councils is adaptable in dealing
with peaks and troughs in workload. 
• The production of a common specification has reduced the costs of
storage of materials and encourages cost savings through bulk
purchase. This approach is supported by Scottish Government
initiatives, Procurement Scotland and Scotland Excel. 
• The arrangement also meets the Scottish Governments objectives in
increased partnership working and shared services in line with the
Efficient Government agenda. 
• It gives scope for further development of such a partnership, for
example by other Councils joining to realise efficiency savings. As
stated above, Angus Council joined the partnership in 2020. 
• Since its inception the partnership approach has provided opportunities
for efficiencies and reduced staff levels and costs for all partners.  The
staffing levels are currently deemed to be at the lowest level to sustain
the existing level of service delivery. 
4.5 An Executive group comprising of senior officers from each Council and
Tayside Contracts meet four times a year to review performance of the
Partnership against a number of agreed criteria.  The present Partnering
Agreement expired on the 31 March 2023 after a further successful four year
period. 
4.6 As part of the Roads Asset Management Planning Framework, projections are
made in relation to the increasing price of electricity. Through capital
investment and spend to save policies, the Street Lighting Partnership has
sought to mitigate these increases.  This has been largely due to the proactive
approach of taking advantage of developing lighting technologies to reduce
electricity consumption and reduce maintenance.

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4.7 The Street Lighting Partnership is already well advanced in many of these
new technologies such as the use of energy efficient white light sources and
part night dimming. LED lanterns are now both more affordable and attractive
as spend to save solutions. 
4.8 The LED replacement programme has, to date, reduced the Councils energy
consumption by 52.5% which represents an annual reduction of 5,500,000
kWh of electricity. Carbon emissions have reduced by 80%, which represents
an annual reduction of 4,540 tonnes of Co2.  The cost savings for the Council
associated with this LED replacement scheme are currently £2.6m and are
estimated to produce a £20m saving over the 20 year life of the lanterns. 
4.9 The Street Lighting Partnership also introduced a Central Management
System (CMS) for 2200 street lights in Perth City Centre. Through
communication with nodes installed in the street lighting lanterns, this enables
the Street Lighting Partnership to remotely monitor individual streetlights as
well as control the level of lighting which is operational. This system allows for
the lights to be remotely monitored for fault issues as well as potentially
generating savings via variable lighting levels as needed by area. This
provides substantial environmental benefits as well as: - 
• Controllable and efficient street lighting
• Enhanced public and road safety
• Improved energy efficiency
• Improved lighting maintenance
• Improved data collection 
5. PROPOSALS 
5.1 While being one of the leading Councils in the introduction of new
technologies, there are still opportunities for improvement to further enhance
and build on the successes that have been realised to date. Listed below are
the main areas of work where the Partnership is realising further
improvements: 
• Introduction of LED light technology into street lighting applications to
reduce electricity consumption and further improve reliability and extend
the operational life of the lamps. To date 19,000 street lights have been
installed using LED technology.  There is approximately 6,000 further
street lights to be installed with this technology to reach 100%
installation. 
• In line with National Guidance and recommendations, street lights with
adaptable lighting levels have been introduced as standard in streets
where traffic volumes and pedestrian movement reduces significantly
outwith peak social hours. This innovative approach reduces electricity
consumption and assists in helping the Council meet its Statutory carbon
reduction obligation.

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• Through the SCOTS Asset Management project, the Partnership is
undertaking an active role in the introduction and development of Asset
Management tools and techniques to help further improve the service. 
5.2 Some of these initiatives and projects will take time to develop. The present
Street Lighting Partnering arrangement meets the Scottish Government's
objectives in increased partnership working in line with the Efficient
Government agenda. 
Authors
Name  Designation Contact Details
Stuart D’All 
Lisa Chiles 
Road Maintenance
Partnership Manager 
Street Lighting
Partnership Manager
ComCommitteeReports@pkc.gov.uk 
Approved 
Name Designation Date
Fraser Crofts  Strategic Lead,
Environment &
Infrastructure
9 May 2024

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ANNEX 
1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND
COMMUNICATION 
Strategic Implications Yes / None
Community Plan  Yes
Corporate Plan  Yes
Resource Implications  
Financial  None
Workforce None
Asset Management (land, property, IST) None
Assessments  
Equality Impact Assessment No
Strategic Environmental Assessment No
Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) Yes
Legal and Governance  Yes
Risk None
Consultation 
Internal  None
External  None
Communication 
Communications Plan  None 
1. Strategic Implications  
Community Plan 
1.1 Street lighting makes an important contribution to road safety, crime     
prevention and the creation of an acceptable, safe night-time environment. 
Good reliable street lighting is a key factor in building and maintaining
community safety and improving the quality of life for both residents and
visitors. 
Corporate Plan 
1.2 Street lighting makes an important contribution to road safety, crime     
prevention and the creation of an acceptable, safe night-time environment. 
Good reliable street lighting is a key factor in building and maintaining
community safety and improving the quality of life for both residents and
visitors. 
2. Resource Implications 
Financial 
2.1 There are no direct financial implications within this report.

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Workforce 
2.2 There are no direct workforce implications within this report. 
Asset Management (land, property, IT) 
2.3 There are no direct land and property, or information technology implications
arising from the contents of this report. 
3. Assessments 
Equality Impact Assessment 
3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate
discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations
between equality groups.  Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans
and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties.   
This section should reflect that the proposals have been considered under the
Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following
outcome: 
(i) Assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA 
Strategic Environmental Assessment 
3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the
Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its
proposals. The proposals have been considered under the Act and no further
action is required as it does not qualify as a PPS as defined by the Act and is
therefore exempt. 
Sustainability 
3.3 Under the provisions of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 the
Council has to discharge its duties in a way which contributes to the
achievement of sustainable development.   Under the Climate Change
(Scotland) Act 2009 the Council also has a duty relating to climate change. 
3.4 The proposals contained within the report are assessed to have a positive
impact on sustainability, particularly with regard to . 
Legal and Governance 
3.5 The Council are required, as Roads Authority under the Roads (Scotland) Act
1984, to manage and maintain the roads held on the List of Public Roads.
Street Lighting in included within this requirement and this report considers
the discharge of this duty.

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Risk 
3.6 There are no significant risks associated with the implementation of this
project. 
4.  Consultation 
4.1  No consultation has been carried out in preparing this report. 
5.  Communication 
5.1  No communication has been carried out in preparing this report. 
2.  BACKGROUND PAPERS 
2.1 None