My first motion at November’s MD meeting; ‘That the council provides an update regarding the funding of public lighting projects in the municipal district to include updates regarding funding sought for public lighting from; the National Public Upgrade project; the council’s draft budget for 2019; and that the consideration of a two-part approach to public lighting on the Green Road, prioritising lighting from Crotanstown/Beechmount estates over the unlit bridge towards Ballymany, be implemented as a reduced cost phase 1.

Here is the report issued by Ms E Wright, Senior Executive Officer, Roads Transportation and Public Safety Section.: The funding of public lighting projects in the county is from the Public Lighting budget and the 2019 Budget is pending approval by the members.
The National Public Upgrade Project proposes to retrofit the existing lights with LEDs – the estimated cost for Kildare for this capital project is circa €9m. Kildare County Council has been preparing and financially planning for this project over recent years, with circa €3.7m set aside towards this project, it is planned to set aside €1.2m over the next 3 years. The council has advised the Road Management Office (overseeing this National project which will be advanced on a regional basis) that it will need to avail of borrowing circa 50% of the capital investment required to complete the project. The members will be provided with further information on the borrowing requirement in due course.
In relation to the Green Road, the Public Lighting Section has visited the location and carried out an assessment based on the criteria set out in KLIPS.
The cost of installing the public lights at this location is in the range of €75,000 to €80,000.
Given the scale of the works requested, this is a project which will require a full technical assessment to determine feasibility of the scheme including land acquisition, civil works and a full costing. In order to achieve best value for money, it is not proposed to split this project.