Thursday November 13th 2025
Street lighting on Dalhousie Road, Dalkeith
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
We asked the Midlothian Council for information surrounding Midlothian’s street light management after a reader’s comment highlighted interest.
The council explained that they have a maintenance budget of £380,000 annually which covers staff, materials, and vehicles but excludes energy costs. Alongside this annual budget, they also have a £1million annual capital programme for column and lantern upgrades.
Midlothian Council maintain the lights, doing all routine maintenance and contract management, however permanent structural changes and upgrades are delivered using an external contractor. Lighting on major road networks are managed by Transport Scotland.
Currently, 67.7% of street lights are LED but the council anticipate that all street lights in Midlothian will be LED by 2030. Street lights converted to LED typically see around a 60% reduction in energy consumption.
It is unclear if the switch to LED lighting has less effect on local wildlife.
All the street lights are timeclock controlled, the time clocks on/off times move in conjunction with British summer time but are on from dusk to dawn.
The council provided a conservation area map, explaining that different lighting columns are usually installed in these areas.
Street lighting conservation map showing all the conservation areas in Midlothian
Highlighting that tennis court lighting is managed by sports and leisure, they explained that a contractor is soon to link the on/off timer of the courts lights to the booking system.
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