NEARLY £6 million is to be spent by Somerset Council to convert street lights to LEDs in a move to cut energy bills.

Power for street lights, bollards, signs, and Belisha beacons on pedestrian crossings currently costs the council more than £5 million a year.

The unitary authority has more than 60,000 such assets across Somerset.

Nearly 70 per cent of them have already been upgraded from conventional lighting to LED technology, which lasts longer than traditional bulbs and uses up to 90 per cent less energy.

The rest were said to be ‘ageing, inefficient, and increasingly difficult to maintain due to discontinued parts and outdated systems’.

Councillors were told upgrading the old assets should save nearly £2 million over the first two years.