THOUSANDS of faulty photocells on streetlights across South Gloucestershire have been replaced ahead of the autumn hour change on Sunday, October 26.

Crews from the council’s StreetCare team replaced the units after they fell out of synch following the spring and autumn hour changes.

The faulty units have been replaced by the manufacturer at no charge to the council and by this autumn’s hour change, more than 9,000 replacement will have been installed. A final 3,000 units will be replaced by the end of November.

In areas where the replacement photocells are being installed after 26 October, existing street lights will continue to switch off an hour earlier than intended, at approximately 10.45pm.

This is expected to begin on Monday, October 20 and will last for about two weeks, before units come back into line with GMT or are replaced as part of the ongoing works.

As well as resolving the hour change issue the replacement units have also been adjusted to operate to the council’s revised part-night lighting regime of 1am to 5am, providing an extra hour of light each night.

Head of StreetCare Mark King said: “Replacing this many photocells over a relatively short period of time has been a big challenge but we’ve made excellent progress and I’m pleased that we will have done the majority of the work by Sunday, October 26.

He added: “We’re now awaiting the final few thousand units and these will all be installed by the end of November. We’re grateful for residents’ patience while we finish the job.”

Part-night lighting was adopted by the council in 2008 as part of measures to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions through South Gloucestershire.

About two-thirds of the district’s 30,000 street lights have been switched to part-night operation.