Overview
- Kent County Council says recent structural tests found internal corrosion and base failures in the cast-iron columns, making them unsafe to keep in service.
- The council estimates installing modern steel posts with a heritage-style kit at about £810 per column and says refurbishing or recasting would cost several thousand pounds per unit.
- Officials plan to take down nine lampposts on Cossington Road and have already fitted replacements on Orchard Street, while stating some proposed works have not yet begun.
- Ptolemy Dean of the Canterbury Society leads opposition, calling the new fixtures crude and urging maintenance over removal, with a local petition drawing more than 750 signatures.
- The dispute unfolds under a Reform UK–led council and involves roughly 250–270 surviving bespoke posts, many originally cast by a Canterbury foundry.