ONE Oxfordshire market town could have up to 1,000 of its street lights converted to LED lights under a county council pilot project to save money.

If the £300,000 initiative is successful, all of the county’s street lights could eventually be changed.

The cash and energy-saving pilot has been put forward in the council’s budget proposals after the collapse of plans to turn off half of Oxfordshire’s street lights between 12.30am and 5.30am to save money.

County Hall dropped the plans after electricity companies changed their tariffs, meaning it would not produce the hoped-for £350,000 savings.

Now the new trial project – at a location yet to be decided – would see between 750 and 1,000 street lights converted to LEDs (light-emitting diodes) or the existing lights dimmed.

The council estimates the change would save between £4,500 and £9,000 a year, and prevent between 27 and 54 tonnes of carbon monoxide entering the atmosphere.

The county councillor responsible for the county’s roads, Rodney Rose, said: “We said we were going to save money on street lighting, which we obviously can no longer do because of the electricity companies.

“But that does not diminish the fact we ought to be seeing what we can do, and LEDs is one way of trying to achieve that.

“There is both a financial saving and obviously an energy saving.”

But he said the installation of LED lights did face some problems.

The LED lights work best if they are spaced at different intervals from conventional street lights, and need to be at a different height from the ground.

Mr Rose said: “It is the sort of thing that lends itself to a new development where you can put them in from scratch.”

LED streetlights have been installed extensively over the US and the first ones arrived in Britain last July, at Hicks Gate roundabout in Keynsham, near Bristol.

Each lamp contains 80 tiny bulbs, producing a bright white light.

They are designed to last five times as long as a traditional street lamp, and recent studies show they can be up to 25 per cent more energy efficient than ordinary bulbs which give off the same amount of light.

But County Hall said it was important to ensure the right technology was available and that it could perform to the required standard.

Budget papers to be discussed by councillors on Friday say: “If the pilot is successful, we will endeavour to roll out the scheme fully across the county, providing the additional budget (£1.2m) can be allocated.”