SAVINGS of £1,000 made on last year's street lighting bill for Powick parish will help to pay for further improvements to the lights.

The parish council, which has handed over responsibility for its lighting to Worcestershire County Council, has set aside £4,500 for maintenance and improvements this year.

At Wednesday's meeting, county council lighting officer John Dare said routine maintenance would cost £2,600 and, with £1,000 left over from last year, the council would have nearly £3,000 left "to play with."

He asked how members would like to see the money spent, pointing out that last year some old lighting was replaced with energy-saving high pressure sodium lights and some fibre glass lighting columns were replaced because they were becoming a safety risk.

It was agreed to replace up to three more fibre glass columns at a cost of about £600 each. The remaining money could be used to continue the programme of upgrading old lamps.

"We have made impressive savings on energy costs by ensuring that there was some lamp replacement and to keep on doing that must be sensible and prudent housekeeping," said Rod MacKichan.

Maurice Round made a plea for a new lamp outside the Blue Bell pub, which is soon to house Callow End's new post office.

"There are no street lights opposite or even near there and elderly people might have a chance to get across the road safely with proper lighting," he said.

"A car going through the village with headlights on knows where he is going and you can see him, but there is no guarantee that he can see you."

Mr Dare said it could cost more than £2,000 for one new lighting column, depending on the availability of electricity services nearby.

He said he would find out how much it was likely to cost and report back to the council.

It was also agreed to write to Malvern Hills Highways Partnership asking for consideration of suitable road safety measures near the Blue Bell.