Doncaster Council bosses looking to sell on extra street lights following order blunder

Local authority bosses made the admission after an internal audit found 'poor management' was to blame for ordering 3,371 units than they needed.

The SMART Light project has been carried out across the borough installing around 47,000 new street lamps in two phases along residential roads and key highways.

Interim assistant director of environment, Tracey Harwood, told councillors at a audit meeting on Thursday they've started discussions with Doncaster Royal Infirmary to see if they would take any.

Other councils across the country are also being approached.

She added the council were also in discussions with supplier Urbis to renegotiate in terms as around 1,400 of the units have not yet been paid.

A report stated the over-ordering of units could cost the council £700,000 but bosses stressed that figure was now nearer to £50,000.

Thorne & Moorends councillor Mark Houlbrook said: "It is advantageous that we have this scheme in place but there is a lot of lights left over.

"We have an abundance of parks at council and town council level and various organisations and businesses, car parks and so on.

"Trying to put a positive spin on this, this is an opportunity to invest in some of these infrastructures and I would like to see some of these areas being explored in more detail."

Ms Harwood responded: "We're looking over the next five-six years to see how many lights we will need. We're looking towards new housing projects.

"I'm quite confident the budget pressure is no longer identified through audit.

"We've started discussions with the DRI - they have a significant amount of lighting around their building and around the car parks.

We're exploring and looking for businesses, looking for community groups, the big players to provide lighting for them."