Street lighting

Essex is one of the largest local lighting authorities in the country. In Essex, there are around:

• Over 128,000 street lighting columns
• 11,000 illuminated signs
• 6,000 illuminated bollards

Who is responsible for street lighting?

We own and look after most of the street lights in Essex and we only keep records of the street lights that we are responsible for. Regular inspections are carried out to ensure that our street lights are working properly; a higher priority is given to faults that could be dangerous such as exposed electrical wiring; these are normally made safe within two hours of being reported.

Please note, we are not responsible for street lights on some new developments or those on private roads. If it has been established that a road is private/un-adopted the lamp columns are not maintained by us, then the responsibility remains with the local property owners. This may mean that residents will need to conduct further private research to establish who may have responsibility for the lights; things to consider might include local property deeds, land registry records, parish or town council records, or any historic agreements entered into with the developers of the area. Regrettably we are unable to assist further with the ownership of the street lights on these occasions.

For more information regarding street lighting in Castle Point District, please see the documents section below. 

Central Management System

We have one of the largest central management systems in the world which helps us to control our street lighting more efficiently. Sensors on the top of each column detects any faulty issues and sends a report to our street lighting team. By knowing exactly where to deploy engineers we can ensure the county's lights are working to their full capacity.

Faulty street lights

If you notice a street light is faulty, you can tell us online

You can track the status of your street light problem using your reference number, postcode or street name, go to track it

Street Lighting Map

This map only displays the layer that shows our street lighting assets, it does not show street lights operated by others or private street lights. Our Highways Information Map includes more information and layers that may be of interest to you. You will need to accept the terms and conditions before using this map.