Street lighting, lit signs and lit bollards

Do not report a problem if it's on a:

• trunk road in Suffolk - call the National Highways Information Line on 0300 123 5000
• private road

Most street lights, mainly found in residential areas, are turned off between 11.30pm and 6:00am in accordance with our Part Night Lighting Policy - find out more in the section below on this page.

Emergency faults

Any of the following issues are emergencies:

• exposed electrical wires
• 4 or more adjacent lights out, whole streets. adjacent streets
• damaged or leaning street columns, lit bollards, lit signs or street lights
• missing bollards

To report any of the above emergencies, please call our Customer Service Team on 0345 606 6171.

Non-emergency faults

Before reporting a non-emergency fault, you can check if any planned works are already scheduled in your area.

Please be aware that the planned works map:

• shows more detailed operational activity and does not include routine maintenance
• has pins that are reference points and do not show the exact location of a streetlight
• has dates that are subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances
• redirects you to a different website showing the planned works map
• refreshes every day between 10am and 11am
• may not be fully accessible to everyone

View the planned works map

For all other problems, it's quicker and easier to report online.

We aim to repair routine faults (such as replacing bulbs) on street lights within 1 month. Other faults are likely to take longer, depending on the repair(s) required and the availability of specialist staff or equipment.

Priority is given to dangerous faults such as exposed wires and are normally made safe within 2 hours.

If we find the cause of a faulty light is a problem with the electricity supply we will refer it to the electricity supplier. It will then become their responsibility to resolve the problem.

Exceptions

Sometimes we can't fix problems as quickly as we would like because of circumstances outside our control - examples include:

• Lights mounted on wooden poles that are within 1 metre of the live overhead supply cables where it is unsafe for us to work (known as G39 faults). To enable us to undertake repairs, we rely on the electricity Distribution Network Operator (DNO) or their approved contractor to first shroud the cables so we can safely undertake repairs. The DNO for Suffolk is UK Power Networks.
• Units located on remote footpaths with no vehicular access. We need to use a specialist access platform to safely reach the lights and as we only have a limited number of these, we batch repair work of this type to achieve maximum efficiency.
• Lights out on high speed roads and/or where specialist traffic management is required
• Streetlight faults may be caused by an underground electrical supply fault and can only be repaired by UK Power Networks as they own and maintain the electricity cables supplying streetlights (as well as homes and businesses) with electricity. You can find faults of this nature on the UK Power Networks street faults map. Their aim to repair single unit failures within 25 days and multiple units within 20 days from the date when they became aware of the fault, but works to resolve faults with energy supply to homes and businesses usually take priority.

Regulations regarding the illumination of bollards and signs has recently been amended and when a lit sign or bollard is damaged, we risk assess the location and wherever possible, take the opportunity to replace it with a reflective bollard as this will remove the electrical hazard from the centre island and reduce our electricity costs. 

Suffolk County Council owns approximately 80,000 street lighting assets installed across the County. The Council is responsible for the operation (including energy costs), ongoing planned and reactive maintenance and replacement of life expired assets.

Although the asset quantity remains relatively constant, the Council does, from time to time, adopt additional street lighting assets into its asset register, the key reasons being:

• The accrual of new, replaced or upgraded street lighting assets, normally as a result of developer S38 or S278 agreements.
• The installation of new, replaced or upgraded street lighting assets as part of a highway improvement scheme (e.g., public realm improvements)

When adopting new, replacement or upgraded assets, the Council needs to ensure the street lighting has been designed and constructed in accordance with appropriate standards.

The section 38 fee includes up to two visits to site to confirm the streetlighting installation meets the specification and is in accordance with this design guide. Any additional visit(s) will each incur a cost of £305 plus VAT, payable in advance.

Application of the requirements of this document will allow a Proposer to comply with the Council’s design and construction requirements, ensuring that if submitted for adoption, the appropriate standards for permanent accrual into its street lighting asset register are met.

Questions regarding design and construction including how Suffolk County Council can undertake design on your behalf can be directed to enquiries@suffolkstreetlighting.org.

Part-night lighting is used to reduce our energy consumption, saving both money, carbon and CO² emissions.

Streetlights are controlled by sensors that detect when it is dark enough for lighting to be required and switch on the lights. This is earlier in the winter months than in the summer.

Over 42,000 streetlights mainly found in residential areas are ‘part-night lit’ and are switched off from 11:30pm to 6am.

They will then come back on after 6am if the sensors detect it's dark enough for lighting to be required.

All other lighting, predominantly on main routes, are on all night. They also come on and off using the same light detecting sensors.

To deal with particular situations, the Police can request us to leave lights on instead of switching them off in a single or several streets for a period of time.

If you wish to attach items to a streetlight column, please visit Attachments to street lighting columns to find out how to apply. 

In March 2019, Suffolk County Council declared a Climate Emergency and set out ambitions for becoming a carbon-neutral organisation by 2030. This streetlight upgrade supports Suffolk County Council’s ambitions, as a benefit for the environment, supporting a reduction in carbon emissions by saving energy, reducing light pollution as well as providing clearer images on CCTV, traffic cameras and dashcam footage for the benefit of public safety. 

The LED Streetlighting upgrade project is complete however, if you would like further details on the project, please visit Bouygues E&S or LED Streetlighting upgrade project.

In 2011 we were one of the first authorities to adopt a county-wide central management system to monitor and meter our street lights using a sensor mounted on each street light.

These sensors detect when a light is not working and automatically reports faults as they occur. Using this system, we can carry out works more effectively and efficiently to ensure we keep as many lights operational as possible. 

Following installation of the system, and demonstration of the benefits it provides, we were successful in winning the 2013 Highway Magazine Excellence Award for Environmental Sustainability in the Highways Sector.

In some areas, the central management system also provides the ability to dim or brighten our street lighting, depending on the amount of road users (known as adaptive lighting).  As this has never previously been done in the UK using multiple vendors, we introduced a pilot project to measure and count vehicle movements on a main traffic route in west Suffolk and automatically reduce or increase the lighting accordingly, with no noticeable difference in lighting levels.  

Following the success of this pilot, recognised through awards including UK IT Industry Best IoT Project of the Year and the ADEPT President’s Award for Digital Innovation 2018, we are working with European partners in a 2 Seas Cross-border Co-operation Programme to develop and test various methods, tools and concepts to demonstrate proven innovative techniques for energy savings, energy efficiency and renewable energy use in public lighting.

The Interreg 2 Seas Programme is a European Territorial Co-operation Programme and therefore an integral part of the European Union’s Cohesion Policy. It promotes cross-border cooperation between the coastal regions of 4 Member States: England, France, Belgium/Flanders and the Netherlands. This project has received funding from the Interreg 2 Seas programme 2014-2020 co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. 

Our involvement is to provide knowledge and expertise and through EU funding, increase the adaptive lighting project to parts of Ipswich.

More information about the project can be found about Smart Light Concepts on YouTube.