Stage two, comprising of Colchester and Tendring's council areas, have a combined population of around 341,000 people between them, which represents about 23% of the Essex County Council area. That would suggest it could take about eight months to complete these two council areas, from perhaps February 2022 to perhaps September 2022.Essex County Council stated rather boldly in 2021 that it was sure to be able to remove most of its discharge lighting by 2024. The program of work started I think in the Basildon region and moved it's way to Colchester. Colchester, starting work at the beginning of the year about February time and with an aim of completion by September. Keeping in contact with an enthusiast, Essex have only changed by his approximations about 50% of the residential lamps.Although the
fourth and final phase of Essex County Council’s replacement by LEDs programme has moved on from Stage 2 (Colchester and Tendring) to Stage 3 (Braintree and Epping Forest), there are a surprisingly large number of streets, particularly in Clacton, that have only partially been changed over to LED, or not been started at all. But anyone concluding that there’s still plenty of time to carry on enjoying - or wishing to come and see - mercury-lit streets for the forseeable future are sadly mistaken. The vast majority of the street lights that are yet to be changed over are SOX.
All of Clacton and the surrounding area’s mercury stock - GEC Z5641s, GEC Z5671s and Thorn Gamma Sixes, have been particularly badly hit. I can think of only three Z5641s that are still in nightly service to the town – one in Windsor Avenue, one in Mountview Road and one in Carlton Park. There may be others of course.
One of the three street lamps that I know to still be in nightly service in the town has seen a successful campaign to preserve it by a local enthusiast.To serve as a record, here are some of the last photographs I took of the town’s GEC Z5641s. Many of the photographs were taken while Stage Two of the fourth and final phase of Essex County Council’s replacement by LEDs programme was rolling out across the town, so they were there one day and gone the next.
This photograph of Carisbrook Avenue was taken in July 2022. These street lights, photographed just 10 months ago, have now been removed from service. The existing concrete columns were retained.
A long view along unadopted Clarendon Park in Clacton-on-Sea showing how the new post-top fits into the street scene.
The column and lantern in the foreground were probably installed around 60 years ago and are still going strong apart from the lantern's yellowed cone. This is also a Tendring District Council lantern, so it may outlast the far greater number of Essex County Council-owned GEC Z5641s that have graced Clacton-on-Sea, Holland-on-Sea, Jaywick and Great Clacton for the last 60+ years.
Although this is a Tendring District Council lantern and was not under immediate threat of removal, it was unable to outlive the Essex County Council’s Z5641s nearby. The 1980s-vintage Royce Thompson thermal cell developed a fault which caused it to stay on all day. This photograph was taken in May 2022.
The street light has now been replaced with a Holophane S-Line LED lantern on the old concrete column. This photograph was taken in June 2022.
This photograph is of the junction of Clarendon Park and Mountview Road, also taken on the same night as the above two photographs. The column in the foreground is in Clarendon Park and the column in the background is column 4 in Mountview Road – the last surviving GEC Z5641 in that road and the lantern Nathan wants to save. The lantern in the foreground is also a GEC Z5641 on a Utility Major column.
The same junction in the daytime. This photograph was taken in March 2017.
The junction as seen at night, with Clarendon Park's new Holophane S-Line in the foreground and Essex County Council GEC Z5641 on Mountview Road in the background. This photograph was taken in July 2022.
This Essex County Council GEC Z5641 has seen a successful campaign to preserve it by local enthusiast Nathan.
The Essex County Council street lighting along Mountview Road switches off at 1am as part of their part-night lighting regime, while the Tendring District Council lantern stays on all night. This photograph was taken a few moments after the one above.
As often mentioned in this topic, Jubilee Avenue in Clacton-on-Sea used to have a complete installation of Z5641s. A photograph of this street in fog from March 2005 is used on my Avatar. The above dusk photograph was taken in November 2017. The street has now been fully re-lit with LED street lights on the old concrete columns.
This night-time photograph of Windsor Avenue in Clacton-on-Sea was taken in May 2022. Sadly, the column closest to the camera has now been removed from service, leaving just one Z5641 lighting this street to this day.
GEC Z5671s – although a decade younger than the Z5641s – are also about to become extinct in Clacton and the surrounding area, but Norwood Avenue is bucking the trend with three in a row and provides a fabulous mercury-lit street scene to this day. This photograph was taken in December 2022, and the installation was still intact when I last visited the road a few weeks ago.
Although Essex County Council’s LED roll-out has moved on to the Braintree and Epping Forest districts, many streets in Clacton-on-Sea and Holland-on-Sea still have incomplete LED installations. This example of an incomplete changeover was taken in Holland-on-Sea in December 2022, and many streets in Holland-on-Sea are still not completed to this day.
Furthermore, many roads have not been started, like this example (Wash Lane) in Clacton-on-Sea. Although this photograph was taken in December 2022, the road and some of the surrounding roads were still untouched when I last visited them a few weeks ago.
Once again, most of Essex County Council’s residential street lighting switches off at 1am as part of their part-night lighting regime. This photograph was taken a few moments after the one above.
With perhaps just three GEC Z5641s in local service as we enter the New Carolean age, it is noteworthy that this lantern first appeared on Britain’s streets in the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s own Coronation in 1953, and they have done a sterling 60+ years of service to Clacton-on-Sea and the surrounding area. Mike Barford even notes an unfounded theory that
the crown-like appearance of the lantern top could have been inspired by Queen Elizabeth II's own Coronation in 1953.Noting the long service provided to Clacton by the GEC Z5641 from the 1950s to the 2020s, would anyone speculate that the lanterns being installed in the town today will still be around in the 2090s? The above two photographs were taken in Bembridge Close in Clacton-on-Sea in August 2017.