The plan to improve 50,000 street lights in Kirklees and fit them with modern technology has had to be put on hold because of cuts being proposed by the new Conservative-led government.

Kirklees Council was one of six local authorities invited by the previous government to submit a business case for its street lighting PFI scheme. The scheme was at an early stage of a formal process that if successful would see almost £66m invested in street lighting.

Cllr Mehboob Khan, Leader of Kirklees Council, said: “This development is disappointing but was to be anticipated in the light of the current cuts being made by the coalition government. The first draft of the outline business case for Kirklees had been completed following three months of concerted effort. However, until there is clarity about the future of the PFI we will proceed with the policy but leave the business case in its draft form.

“One of the biggest concerns residents raise with me is the quality of our outdated street lights and it is one of the areas of work that I hope we will be eventually able to proceed with.”

Improving street lighting in Kirklees would make an estimated saving of in the region of 100,000 tonnes of CO2 over the life of the contract. Leeds and Wakefield councils have recently undertaken a similar initiative and the evidence has shown that residents feel much safer due to brighter, more energy efficient white street lighting.