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