Fury over council’s plans to tear down metropolis’s ‘stunning’ Victorian lampposts ‘as a result of they’re too boring’ to take care of

Residents are furious over a council’s plans to rip up a city’s ‘beautiful’ Victorian lampposts and replace them with ‘ugly’ modern ones rather than maintain them.

The heritage lampposts of Canterbury have been torn down and replaced by Kent County Council because they are ‘too boring’ and expensive to maintain, campaigners say. 

Ptolemy Dean, an architect and president of the Canterbury Society, said that removing these unique ancient lampposts, which were cast in the city’s foundry, is ‘completely ridiculous’.

He says that the council had already spent money upgrading them to be able to use modern LED lights, meaning ‘they’ll last another 100 years’.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘Instead, they’re going to rip the cast iron streetlights out and replace them with these hideous modern ones, even though they’ve already been improved to modern standards.’

Maintenance of the older lamps is a much better alternative to replacing them with ‘horrible, ugly, modern ones’, Mr Dean said, and he believes it would be far more simple and cost-effective.

He said: ‘Maintenance involves somebody going there, rubbing down the rust and redecorating them with paint every five or 10 years. That’s it. And then they carry on indefinitely.’

On the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said that he believes the private contractors licensed for the maintenance job by the Council treat this simple painting and redecorating of the cast iron streetlights as ‘too boring, costly or difficult’ and see replacement as an easier alternative.

For Mr Dean, the removal of the lampposts amounts to a ‘casual erosion of the identity of the place’. 

The lights were made bespoke for Canterbury’s streets and forged in the city’s foundry at the turn of the 20th Century, Mr Dean said.

Canterbury was once the smallest county borough in England until reforms in 1974, something which Mr Dean said the city took ‘great pride’ in.

He added: ‘Canterbury was very proud of itself, so it had its own design for streetlights, and it had its own foundry that made them, and they were bespoke and special to that place.

‘It has ‘CCC’ carved on the switch doors – like the schools of the century which have ‘CCC’ carved in the stone on their gables.

‘It’s all part of a distinct identity for a city that’s proud of itself.

‘By ripping these things away, replacing them with these horrible standardised features, you’re eroding the very identity of that city.’

He lambasted Kent County Council, saying: ‘This casual erosion of the identity of a place, the degrading of it, is something that I would hope that any political organisation would be worried about.

‘They’re just not focused on it. It’s a real embarrassment. They should be deeply embarrassed.’ 

Mr Dean estimates roughly 250 Victorian lamps are standing in the central areas of the city, but says the ‘erosion has begun already’ with the Council slowly replacing the old cast iron lamps with steel ones. 

‘Every time they take one away, instead of having six matching lamp posts, it’s got five matching ones and then one horrible, ugly, modern one,’ Mr Dean said.

‘It’s like a sort of bad apple that begins to spread.’

These new modern lamps ‘break up the coherence’ of the city, he said.

The Victorian lampposts are part of the fabric of the city and its streets, some made with brackets attached to buildings of the same era, which Mr Dean says makes the city feel ‘consistent’. 

Another frustration for Mr Dean is that the older lamps should last longer than the new ones because the way they rust is different, he claims.

He said maintenance teams should be able to just ‘rub it [the rust] off and there’s masses of good ironwork underneath, but the steel pipes just rust and break.

‘They don’t seem to understand the difference between cast iron and steel; they just assume that because there’s a bit of rust it means they have to replace the whole fixture.’

The replacement of these lampposts represents a greater context in world attitudes today, Mr Dean said.

‘This is the tip of a much bigger, more complicated issue about urban neglect and lack of maintenance,’ he said. 

‘Local authorities are so cash-strapped that they no longer maintain anything.’

He compared it to never-ending potholes on Kentish roads, which he claims the Council only ever patches up rather than fully resurfaces the road as needed.

This type of neglect ‘leads to more degrading, littering, vandalism, damage, lack of care, lack of respect, and it’s a cycle,’ said Mr Dean.

There are places where ancient street furniture like lampposts is looked after, like in Paris or Amsterdam, or even elsewhere in the UK, in Edinburgh and London, which all help lend towards the identity of the place, Mr Dean said.

‘And then you get into Canterbury, which has got this lovely asset as well, and then they’re just being whittled away.’

The Canterbury Society has launched a campaign against Kent County Council to save the city’s Victorian cast-iron streetlights.

A spokesperson for Kent County Council said: ‘These are proposed works which have not yet started. We have been working closely with Canterbury City Council to find a solution and move this work forward. The Canterbury Society has not contacted us to discuss these plans.

‘We understand the historic significance of the Biggleston lampposts in Canterbury and the affection residents have for them. However, recent safety inspections have revealed serious structural issues which mean the lampposts can no longer be considered safe.

‘The cast iron columns have failed structural tests carried out at the base of the column, confirming internal corrosion and other defects. Painting the columns would only protect the part above ground and does not address the damage inside or underground.

‘The original factory that produced these lampposts has closed, and the moulds used to make them no longer exist. Recreating these moulds and manufacturing new cast iron lampposts, or refurbishing the existing lampposts would not be the most effective use of limited maintenance budgets, given other higher-priority needs.

‘It is anticipated that creating a bespoke mould alone would cost tens of thousands of pounds, and each new cast iron column could cost in excess of £5,000.

‘By comparison, installing a modern steel lamppost costs about £168, and adding a heritage-style decorative kit brings the total to around £810 per lamppost. These kits are made from durable, non-metal materials, which makes future safety checks easier, safer, and more cost-effective.

‘Importantly, the existing ornate lanterns will be re-used to maintain the character of Canterbury’s streets.

‘While we appreciate the historic value of the Biggleston lampposts, public safety must come first. Our approach ensures that Canterbury retains a heritage look while meeting modern safety standards and managing costs responsibly.’