Reform-led council under fire for plans to rip up Victorian lampposts
Why this council plans to scrap historic 19th-century lampposts
- Campaigners are warning that Canterbury's collection of about 270 historic cast-iron street lamp posts, many cast locally, are at risk of being replaced with modern alternatives.
- Ptolemy Dean of the Canterbury Society criticised Kent County Council's plan to replace the "very attractive" lamps with "banal and ugly" standard steel posts, arguing it detracts from the UNESCO World Heritage city's aesthetic.
- Canterbury is one of the few UK cities, alongside Westminster and Edinburgh, to retain a full set of bespoke nineteenth-century cast-iron street lampposts, highlighting their unique historical value.
- Kent County Council said that safety inspections revealed serious structural issues and internal corrosion, rendering the existing lampposts unsafe and making their refurbishment or replication financially unviable.
- KCC proposes installing modern steel lampposts with "heritage-style" decorative kits, reusing existing ornate lanterns, a plan that has drawn significant local opposition, with over 750 residents signing a petition.