Bristol’s Mayor has announced he has reversed the council’s policy of taking down old lampposts in most of Bristol and moving them to the ‘nicer’ areas of the city.
Marvin Rees said the policy was ‘outdated and clearly unacceptable’, after it was revealed by Bristol Live last week.
The Mayor said the policy of dealing with older lampposts was that they would remain where they are - and if they needed refurbishing they would end up being put back where they originally were, rather than taken off to storage and used to maintain the heritage look of ‘nicer’ areas of the city.
The announcement is a direct victory for the people of Beckington Road in Knowle, who 1930s lampposts moved from South Bristol - but the council won't say where they'll go - which had stood since the 1930s when the homes there were built - had been taken away.
Council suspends lamppost removal programme after row over favouring 'nicer' areas of Bristol
When the policy was first revealed, the head of the Mayor's Office Council suspends lamppost removal programme after row over favouring 'nicer' areas of Bristol pending an investigation. Now, the Mayor has emerged to take decisive action to stop the practice.
Mr Rees said they would be repaired, refurbished and reinstated.
“An outdated policy dating back many years has meant cast iron column lampposts in need of repair were taken down in many areas of the city and the parts used to repair other cast iron column lampposts in conservation areas,” Mr Rees said.
“This is clearly unacceptable and we have reversed the policy with immediate effect.
“From today, all cast iron column lampposts which are safe and can be fixed, will be repaired and retained where they are.
“Any lampposts which cannot be repaired or pose a health and safety risk will be replaced with steel lampposts. This applies to all areas of the city.
“As a direct result, the lampposts removed this month from Beckington Road will be repaired, refurbished and reinstated.
“We are also ensuring all Iampposts are energy efficient, so over the next three years all orange lights will be replaced by LED, positively impacting on carbon emission reductions in the city,” he added.
Initially, Bristol City Council denied that old lampposts were being taken from some areas of the city - mostly in east or south Bristol and being recycled to keep up the maintenance of and to replace lampposts in other areas of the city, notably Clifton and the leafy areas like Stoke Bishop and Sneyd Park.
1930s lampposts moved from South Bristol - but the council won't say where they'll go
A Bristol Live investigation found older lampposts that had been recently taken from elsewhere in the city used to replace at least four posts in Old Sneed Road in Stoke Bishop.
The difference was that this street is within a Conservation Area - a special area designated by planners, which means any street furniture should be ‘in keeping’ with the picturesque or historic streets.
That meant in practice that the areas of Bristol not deemed Conservation Areas - most of South Bristol, East Bristol and parts of north Bristol - were systematically stripped of whatever heritage street furniture they had, to supply and maintain those ‘nicer’ areas like Clifton.
Someone has been going around putting 'stolen' signs on Clifton's lampposts
That this happened has long been suspected by residents for decades - and took on the status of something of an urban legend.
After it was exposed last week, this week someone went round the streets of Clifton near Clifton Cathedral Someone has been going around putting 'stolen' signs on Clifton's lampposts claiming they had been ‘stolen’ from South Bristol and should be returned.
