Plan to change Westminster’s historic gas street lights to LEDs sparks anger

Council says electrification better for environment and maintenance but some residents oppose move

Two centuries after the first gas lights appeared on the streets of London, casting a romantic glow through the gloom, a few hundred remain in some of the most historic areas of the capital.

But not for much longer. Westminster city council is planning to convert 299 gas lights to electricity, saying LED lights are environmentally better and easier to maintain.