National Highways have informed me there are changes to motorway lighting taking place between Junctions 27 and 28 of the M25 from this week,
National Highways have provided the following information:
"We have taken the decision to switch off some of the motorway lighting on a section of the M25 main carriageway in your constituency from 11 August 2025. This switch off will be followed by a period of assessment of at least 18 months where safety will be assessed before a final decision is made in 2027 on whether the lighting equipment should be fully removed.
This lighting switch off is taking place where equipment is reaching the end of its service life and will apply to approximately 6.5 miles of the M25 between junctions 27 and 28. However, lighting on the junctions and slip roads won’t be switched off.
I want to assure you that safety is our foremost priority. We know that motorway lighting gives reassurance to road users. We will only consider switching off and removing lighting if our assessment satisfies us that it is safe to do. When lighting equipment on our network approaches the end of its life, we undertake a set of safety assessments to review the deployment of lighting on our roads. The assessment looks at the previous five years of reported collision data and the collision record during the hours of darkness, as well as the economic case for renewing or removing the lighting.
When the M25 was built and widened, lighting was provided on all sections with four lanes or more because these wide motorways were new and unfamiliar. Since then, motorways with more lanes have become more common and research has found that lighting contributes less to safety benefits than was previously thought. We use a set assessment called the TA 501 Standard for Road Lighting Appraisal, which is part of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges. The standard is used to ensure road lighting is provided at a sufficient level to ensure road safety, be cost effective, energy efficient, and reduce unnecessary light pollution.
In the areas where we have taken the decision that lighting should remain, we are reducing carbon emissions by procuring electricity from certified renewable sources. We are also replacing lighting units with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), which consume less power."
If you have any inquiries or concerns about the changes you can contact National Highways' Customer Contact Centre by email at [email protected] or by telephone on 0300 123 5000.
