A local authority in Kent has provoked outrage after unveiling proposals to swap out historic Victorian street lamps for what critics have branded “clumsy and crude” alternatives
A campaigner has slammed planned lamppost replacements as ‘grotesque’(Image: Getty)
A local authority in Kent has provoked outrage after unveiling proposals to swap out historic Victorian street lamps for what critics have branded “clumsy and crude” modern replacements. Kent County Council, currently under Reform UK control, intends to progressively phase out Canterbury’s collection of 19th-century lampposts, with approximately 250 still standing, in favour of contemporary street lighting.
Ptolmy Dean, who chairs the Canterbury Society, is amongst those challenging the scheme, pointing to the city’s designation as a World Heritage Asset and highlighting the significance of threatened lampposts on Cossington Road, located within a protected conservation zone.
Mr Dean characterised the proposed new fittings as “clumsy and crude”, informing The Times that “no other place that has this full array of marvellous street furniture”. He criticised the council for determining it was more cost-effective to “throw the old posts away” and substitute them with steel structures featuring some “heritage features” rather than maintaining the original cast iron installations.
Writing to the publication, Mr Dean also condemned the replacement lampposts as “grotesque disfigurements” which “discharge those involved from any responsibility for the consequences of not bothering to re-paint or maintain” the current structures, which bear the city’s initials.
He further argued that nationwide attempts to reduce expenditure and lower energy costs through the removal of Victorian lampposts creates a “demoralising effect” on local communities. “You see this delightful cast iron foliage supporting the lamps with their delightful bracketry being removed and replaced with an off-the-peg design,” the campaigner wrote, reports the Express.
“You lose a sense of civic pride. And what really gets me is that we just accept so much of this banality.”
Architect Clive Bowley previously said that the lampposts simply require a lick of paint, electrical inspections and straightening.
“I can see no understandable reason why these lamps could not be simply refurbished,” he said. “It seems obvious that Kent County Council Highways just can’t be bothered to put themselves out to restore these lampposts.”
Members of the Oaten Hill and District Residents Association have also raised concerns that the proposals will “materially destroy the character” of the street.
A comparable wave of community opposition in Westminster proved successful in 2022, when the council unveiled proposals to convert more than 300 heritage gas lamps to LED technology – with Historic England eventually intervening to award several of the lamps Grade-II listed protection.
Kent County Council has been approached for comment.
