Birmingham Highways Street Lighting

Report an issueReporting online is the quickest and easiest way to let us know of any issues. You can choose to receive updates and track what action has been taken. We will always aim to respond to your enquiry as quickly as possible. Please include location details, and a photo where possible, to help us find the issue quicker.

Our TeamsWe place a great deal of importance on the conduct and integrity of our people and are very proud of our employees.

Our workforce should always be polite and helpful. Feel free to speak to our teams on site should you require any information or assistance during these works.

If an employee has gone the extra mile to help you, or if you are not entirely satisfied with our employees conduct, we would urge you to let us know using the contact details below.

Help us tackle......Lighting problems

We carry out routine maintenance and inspect lights, both during the day and at night, but we understand that problems may arise at any time; if you notice a light that is off, coming on at the wrong times, is too bright or too dull, or has any loose fittings, exposed cables or accident damage, please let us know using the contact details in this leaflet.

Below are the timescales we aim to meet for various lighting issues:

If a light is out Repaired within 5 days

If multiple lights in one location are out

Repaired within 1 day

If a light is on in the day

Repaired within 5 days

If a column door is open or the wires are exposed

Make safe within 1 hour, full repair within 28 days

If the column is damaged, knocked down or in a dangerous position

Make safe within 1 hour, full repair within 28 days

Visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/streetlightsPhone: 0121 303 6644

Did you know?Over 5,000 tonnes of carbon is being saved in Birmingham every year thanks to LED street light upgrades. The installation of the new lighting could eventually cut the council’s energy bill by up to £3million annually!

Requests for additional street lighting can be made on the council’s website. Local district engineers will consider requests, which are subject to the availability of funding..

Street LightingStreet lights are an important part of our roads, and we look after a range of different lanterns, and other lights, such as illuminated bollards and signs.

The type of lighting on a road will depend on the national safety standards for that type of street. Busy A-roads will have more powerful and widely distributed light than residential roads.

In 2010, Birmingham City Council and Amey embarked on a ground-breaking programme to upgrade all residential street lights with state-of-the-art Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology by 2035. Over half of these were completed by 2015 and we continue to install approximately 2000 new lights a year.

Why LEDs?New LED street lights have a number of advantages over the older lighting technology.

• They are more economical so energy bills and carbon emissions will be reduced by up to 60%

• LED lights direct light downwards reducing ‘orange glow’ light pollution and minimising excess light getting into people’s houses

• The new lights enable operators to adjust lighting levels remotely. For example, lights can be made brighter after an incident to help emergency services

• The new lights are clearer, allowing a wider spectrum of colours to be seen. Facial features can be distinguished more easily. As a result, many people feel safer.

Installing new lightsIt takes approximately 28 days to install new lighting in a street.

The old lights remain in place while the new ones are installed in order to maintain lighting in the street. We will carry out excavation works in the pavement to connect the new lighting to the electricity cable. Old columns will then be removed once the new ones are operational.

We will not require access to your property when we carry out this work.

We may need to put temporary barriers, and on rare occasions, temporary traffic or parking restrictions in place to keep the site safe for both the public and our teams.

Positioning of lightsEach lighting scheme is designed to light the road evenly to the required safety standard. Each individual lamp column is positioned to meet these overall standards. It is not normally possible to change the position of one column without affecting the rest in the area.

Columns will usually be placed at the back of the pavement to minimise the risk of them being struck and becoming dangerous in the event of road accidents. Placed there, the lights will deliver the most effective and efficient illumination of both the pavement and the road, and they will maintain the maximum amount of pavement space for those using wheelchairs and pushchairs.

New LED lights direct light downwards and reduce the risk of light pollution into people’s homes. If you still have an issue with light nuisance from a street light, report this to us and one of our Street Lighting Technicians will assess if there is anything we can do to help.