WORK to upgrade more than 24,000 streetlights to LED lighting will continue across Devon this month.

The £10.2 million scheme, using Challenge Funding which Devon County Council received following a successful bid to the Department for Transport, will convert streetlights to lower wattage LED lighting, and around 5,000 columns will also be replaced as part of the project.

The replacement of streetlights, on mostly main (A and B) roads, got underway earlier this year in Barnstaple, where around 5,200 lights and 1,100 columns are being replaced, and Kingskerswell, where 750 lanterns and 100 columns are being upgraded.

The scheme is now extending across other parts of the county.

Columns are currently being replaced on Topsham Road, Exeter, during the school holidays to minimise disruption, before the lights are replaced.

Tiverton will then be targeted, followed by Crediton.

The Challenge Fund project will take two years to be fully implemented. Installation work is being carried out by SSE Contracting.