Apply for heritage street lights

If you have received a letter informing you that the street lights in your road are planned to be changed, and you are interested in having heritage street lights in your road, please read the guidelines and conditions before expressing your interest.

The application process

1. Expression of interest
2. Approval and balloting 
3. Collecting the additional funding
4. Installation

Conditions

You will need to comply with these conditions in order to have heritage street lights installed:

• The average age of the properties in the road are to be in keeping with the heritage street lights circa 1900.
• All street lights in each road are to be changed to heritage street lights.
• 51% or more residents need to agree the change to heritage street lights.
• The communication between residents will be undertaken by a nominated lead resident in each road, this is to be decided by the road.
• Residents will have seven days to express an interest from receipt of the letter informing them that their street lights are to be replaced.
• Residents will have a further 14 days to confirm the 51% support by household for heritage street lights.
• Residents will then have 28 days to raise the additional funding and arrange payment.
• A photo of the heritage street light is provided on this website, there is no alternative heritage street light available.
• All communication will be between the Council and the road will be via the lead resident.
• All communication from the Council for heritage street lights will be via the lead resident.

Cost

The additional cost to residents to replace each standard street light with a heritage street light is currently £2,050 per street light if the change is requested when we are replacing the existing street lights in your road as part of a planned replacement programme, this cost includes a reduction of £620 for the cost of a standard mild steel lighting column and LED street light.

For roads requesting heritage street lights outside of the planned replacement programme the cost per street light is £3,600.

This cost includes the electricity supply transfer, all engineering works to replace the street light and reinstatement of the footway, these costs are paid for by us during the planned replacement programme.

Additional information

Conservation areas

We replace street lights on a like for like basis. We cannot afford to replace all standard street lights with heritage street lights in conservation areas.

Efficiency

Desk top design is completed to ensure the lighting levels provided by the heritage lighting complies with the current British standards.

Shields

We request that residents wait for a period of 14 days to acclimatise to the change of colour from the replacement street lights, after this short period residents may request a back light shield for the street light.

Shields may be requested online. After selecting the street light please choose new lighting request and provide a description of your request. alternately please telephone the Richmond Contact Centre 020 8891 1411 to report your request.

Colours

All of Richmond’s street lights are LED 4000k white light. The street light colour for standard and heritage street lights is the same.

All of Richmond’s heritage street lights are painted black.

Maintenance

All street lights on the public highway are maintained by the Council from your Council Tax. You will not have to contribute again if a street light is damaged.

Contributions

All residents volunteer to contribute, there is no minimum or maximum amount, however it is expected that at least 51% of residents per road contribute.

A list of residents that contribute is used for financial calculation only and all information provided is confidential.

Signage

You cannot add a sign to the street lights to say that the residents helped fund the street lights, as only statutory and regulatory signs are approved.

Timescales

The street lights are installed around 12 weeks after receipt of the payment from the residents.

Expression of interest

An expression of interest is to be submitted within seven days of receipt of the notification letter to replace the street lights in your road, in order to benefit from the planned replacement cost of heritage street lights.

Approval and balloting

Approval

After you express an interest in heritage street lights, your road is assessed by the Urban Design Planning Engineer (UDP) for suitability, the age of the properties in the road are to be in keeping with the heritage street lights for example all buildings will need to built circa 1900 (more than 90% of properties per road)

Balloting

If the UDP Engineer has approved heritage street lights in your road, you will receive approval to canvass all residents and properties in your road for their support and contribution towards heritage street lights.

We require a minimum of 51% support of households in each road to support the change to heritage street lights from standard street lights

The lead resident will have 14 days from receiving the email notification from us to ballot all residents in their road to demonstrate 51% support in favour of the change heritage street lights

A list of all properties with names and addresses is to be provided showing:

• Name
• Address
• Date
• Support for heritage street lighting?
• Willing to contribute?

When we have received confirmation that 51% of residents are in support of the change to heritage street lights we will contact the lead resident and proceed to stage 3.

In the event that residents do not meet the criteria for stages 1 or 2 we will notify the lead resident accordingly that standard street lights will be installed on their road.

Collecting the additional funding

The lead resident is to collect the additional funding from the residents in the road, the money is to be collected in the form multiple cheques payable to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames or cash, a list of contributor's name, address and value is to be provided to us.

A full list of contributions is to be provided with the payment from the residents:

• Name
• Address
• Date
• Amount paid
• Cash or cheque

When the full funding has been collected, the lead resident will arrange to deliver the money, and a receipt will be issued for the deposit of the money

We request that full payment of the additional funding is made to us within 28 days of the confirmation of stage 2.

Installation

After the money is paid a receipt will be issued to the lead resident.

The street lights will be ordered from the supplier, and the works are programmed on delivery of the heritage street lights from the supplier.

A notice will be sent to the lead resident providing details of the proposed installation date when it is known, usually 12 weeks after receipt of the money.

How to apply

Prior to submitting an expression of interest, residents are requested to nominate a spokesperson in the road who is able to act as the main point of contact on their behalf. This will enable the matter to be dealt with more directly.

By submitting your interest you are agreeing to us sharing your name, postal address and email address with other residents in your road.

Before you start

Ensure you have read:

• The conditions and additional information
• The application process

What happens next

We will reply to the resident(s) accepting the expression of interest.

Where multiple expressions of interest are received then all applicants will be notified, and their email addresses shared with each other. If more than one resident is contacted by us, the residents will need to nominate a lead contact within 3 days (the lead resident).

Submit your application