Mary Reid

You may have noticed that some of these around the borough  ...

have been replaced by some of these ...

The old-style bollards are lit by a bulb, so the Council has to pay for the electricity and lightbulbs, and also for the labour involved in changing the bulbs and electrical testing. Repair of vandalised bollards also cost the Council up to £60,000 a year.

The new bollards are reflective and don't need power, and the saving in power, bulbs and labour is over £27 per bollard per year. There are 324 in use at the moment (out of 861), so they represent a saving of nearly £9000 per year.

They are also much more robust and already the repair costs have come right down to £22,000.

All good stuff, I think, and good for the environment because of the carbon reduction.