STREET lights in Poole should be replaced with energy saving lights, says a motion signed by eight Liberal Democrat councillors.

They are calling for Borough of Poole to adopt a more strategic approach to all public and street lighting.

The motion went to full council and was referred to the transportation advisory group.

“The current approach is somewhat ad hoc and leaves significant areas with lights that are neither energy saving nor of high quality,” say the petitioners, led by Cllr Vikki Slade.

“We therefore propose that this council replaces all its street and public lighting with energy saving LED lights and investigates possible uses of SMART technology.”

They are also calling on the council to make use of available Green Investment Bank funding.

“That will enable the council to carry out the work at no cost to taxpayers and provide significant savings to the council and that this is done as quickly as possible.”

Julian Mc-Laughlin, head of transportation services, Borough of Poole, said: “We are developing a business plan for the replacement of street lights in Poole and this will be discussed by the appropriate committee in due course.

“At this stage nothing has been decided but there is a strong case for improvement.”

Work started last month on a £7million upgrade of all of neighbouring Bournemouth’s street lighting to more energy efficient technology.

Over the next few months the council will be replacing all of its 16,500 street lights with low energy modern LED technology.

The council says the modern lighting will better conserve energy, reduce the town’s carbon footprint and deliver energy savings of £32.3million against projected costs over 20 years.

Currently the council spends £1.1m a year on street lighting.