Fifteen local authorities will share almost £700m worth of PFI (private finance initiative) credits following successful bids to the Department for Transport for street lighting schemes.

Operations director David Locke at 4ps, local government's project delivery specialist, explained street lighting is one of the more successful PFI sectors, but securing funding for updating stock was a ‘challenge'. 'We welcome today's (26 July) announcement. It will enable more authorities to take advantage of PFI to improve their public lighting service.'