Reform Council To Remove Cast-Iron Lampposts

It is the cathedral city so dear to Charles Dickens, and where he set David Copperfield.

Yet a wonderful assemblage of cast iron lampposts, which have illuminated the streets of Canterbury since Victorian times, is set to be ripped out and swapped for modern alternatives – by a Reform-run council.

Residents and heritage campaign groups have fiercely fought this shift. A petition has been signed by more than 750 people demanding that the council reconsider, but it is standing firm.

Campaigner David Kemsley, of the Alliance of Canterbury Residents Associations, said: ‘These lamp columns are as much a part of Canterbury’s story as its walls or gates – they are tangible links to a Canterbury firm whose craftsmanship literally helped light cities across the world.

‘To replace them with mass-produced steel poles is cultural vandalism.’

A key Unesco World Heritage site, Canterbury boasts about 270 of the cast iron lampposts – many of which were cast in the city’s own HM Biggleston and Sons foundry, a leading supplier of streetlight fittings across Britain and worldwide.

The foundry operated from 1835 to 1963. According to the conservationist campaign group The Canterbury Society, replica columns have continued to be installed and repaired up to as recently as three years ago.

However, only months after Reform took control of Kent County Council in May last year, the plan to replace the heritage lighting with more affordable, contemporary designs was launched.

Reform UK, in its manifesto, says it will ‘stand up for British culture, identity and values’. The Canterbury Society stated that the historic lampposts could be saved by Canterbury City Council and preserved through regular repainting.

Kent County Council said the decision to replace the lampposts had been made following safety inspections last August – three months after Reform took control of the authority. But the Society’s president, Ptolemy Dean, has called proposed new designs ‘clumsy and crude… banal and ugly… grotesque disfigurements’.

Their petition asks the councils to ‘treat heritage street furniture as an asset rather than an inconvenience’ and will be presented to Canterbury City Council.

A county council spokesman said that while it ‘appreciates the historic value and the affection residents have for them … public safety must come first’. They said the lampposts ‘failed structural tests, confirming internal corrosion’.

The spokesman added: ‘Recreating the moulds, or refurbishing the existing lampposts, would not be the most effective use of limited budgets.

‘Creating a mould alone would cost tens of thousands, and each column in excess of £5,000.

‘Installing a modern steel lamppost costs about £168, and adding a heritage-style decorative kit brings the total to around £810. 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 reused to maintain the character of Canterbury’s streets… Our approach ensures Canterbury retains a heritage look while meeting safety standards.

‘We have been working closely with Canterbury City Council to find a solution.’

It seems that this is not entirely accurate.

Peter Osbourne said that they would not be tearing down Victorian streetlamps in Canterbury. He said that they were not tearing down anything, and this is misinformation. When asked if it was fake news, he said, ‘Absolutely.’

They are going to be replaced, especially if they have been damaged by, say, an RTA with a modern alternative, which will be a quick fix while Canterbury City Council gets its head around it and determines what they’re going to do.

These are age old cast iron lamposts that require some form of repair and Peter Osbourne categorically said that if they have to be replaced they will be replaced with posts that are the same, but made out of different material, but once painted you won’t know the difference, and he said that they are definitely not going to pull out 250 plus lamposts, but if they fail the structural test, they will remove them and replace them with an indentical copy, but it won’t be cast iron, it will be a composite material, and unless you get a microscope to it, you won’t be able to tell the difference.

So, evidently, this is not accurate that they are tearing out Victorian lamposts, but we shall watch this space to see what really happens.

However, putting in new lamp posts that look the same is like building cheap homes, then fitting plastic embellishments on them to look Victorian. Not really the same thing, and probably not as aesthetically pleasing, but at least some thought has gone into it to make it look similar.

This seems like simple logic to me from where I am sitting. The old cast iron ones wouldn’t endure forever, and what should the council do if the testing result indicated that they were dangerous due to corrosion?

Naturally, we should always do all in our power to preserve our cultural legacy, but there are instances when this is simply not feasible.

If this is the top story for that council, then they appear to be on top of things because, in some areas, councils have not emptied their bins for over a year now!