FAILING lighting at Darwen Leisure Centre and Blackburn Market are to be replaced with LED lighting.

Council bosses say replacement is becoming pressing, particularly at Darwen Leisure Centre where poor lighting levels can compromise the safety of pool users.

The lights around both large and small pools at Darwen Leisure Centre are now failing with increased frequency.

And each time the seal around a lamp is broken to make repairs, the interior is exposed to chlorine-filled air that accelerates the lamp’s corrosion and failure.

Council bosses say when a lamp fails it compromises pool-user safety because it reduces the lifeguards’ ability to see people in the water.

The lighting proposed for replacement at Darwen Leisure Centre and Blackburn Market has been in use since the sites opened, making it almost 10 and eight years old respectively.

The LEDs that would be installed as replacements have a guaranteed 60,000 hours lifespan before any degradation of light output – 12 years for both sites – and cut electricity consumption, based on like for like use, by around 30 per cent.

Proposals to spend more than £75,000 changing the lights have been approved by council resources chief, Cllr Andy Kay.

The scheme will result in savings of £3,785 per year on electricity bills at Darwen Leisure Centre and £4,000 at Blackburn Market.

Maintenance costs of £1,000 at each site are expected to be saved each year.

And bosses hope the money saved means the outlay will be clawed back within seven to eight years of installation.

Cllr Kay said: “LED technology is now sufficiently advanced to enable manufacturers to design luminaires suitable for use in a pool environment and also provide similar light levels as the existing lamps.

“It is proposed to replace all of the existing lamps with LEDs in one scheme, rather than replace each unit as it fails.

“This ensures that the correct lighting levels are provided for the pool environment and reduces the overall cost of replacement.

“The lamps that light the public walkways in Blackburn Market have been failing for over two years.

“The cost of repairs is now around £1,000 per year and expected to rise as more repairs are required.

“All installation work and equipment testing would be carried out by the council’s own property maintenance staff, and completed no later than the first quarter of 2019/20.

“There are insufficient resources in the property maintenance budgets to meet the cost of the lighting replacement.

“Both schemes will achieve energy efficiencies and carbon reduction and so it is proposed they be met from the council’s carbon management programme budget.”