It may go unnoticed by the casual observer, but Milton Keynes was designed with a carefully-planned system of street furniture designs which give the city much of its unique character and style. Key among these was street lighting, most notably the unique spherical or 'globe' shaped lanterns that sit atop brown square-profile columns in the housing areas. The grid roads, industrial estates and the city centre all have their own unique designs, giving each a distinct character and identity.

This one-of-a-kind system is now being systematically destroyed by Milton Keynes Council as part of their process to convert the city to LED lighting. Despite the fact that LED globe lanterns and square columns are widely available on the market, MKC is pressing ahead with an estate-by-estate wholesale replacement with completely different, inappropriate designs. This is ruining the design of many estates with ugly new lighting, often far too bright, as well as the increasing appearance of silver/grey columns of totally different designs in the middle of carefully planned streets.

The Milton Keynes Street Lighting Association is calling on Milton Keynes Council to stop this policy. We are not opposed to converting to LED lighting to save energy and improve safety, but we are opposed to the wholesale destruction of Milton Keynes' new town heritage. We have researched what's available on the market and we know this upgrade can be done sympathetically with appropriate LED lantern and column designs. A little effort and attention to detail is all that's needed.