SMART streetlights which can be dimmed, report back when roads need gritting and even assist driverless cars are coming to Brighton and Hove.

Councillors have agreed to a £8 million investment programme over three years to install super smart street lights across the city.

The move will save the council around £200,000 a year in reduced energy bills and carbon emissions by upgrading 20,000 city lampposts.

The sum is a major reduction on the £26 million announced in January last year for the street lighting because of reduced costs and reduced scope of the scheme not to include historical street lights along the seafront.

The authority is a little behind some of its peers in introducing the smart technology, Hampshire County Council launched a similar overhaul in 2010 while Westminster City Council began theirs in 2011.

Controlled by a central management system allowing more accurate switch on and switch off times, it is estimated that the new lighting will make savings of up to 61 per cent on energy and carbon output.

The reduction will save the council more than £500,000 a year though the costs of the contract and borrowing to fund the replacement scheme will lower the overall savings to £200,000.

Work has already begun to update the city’s lighting with all columns structurally tested over the past five years.

More than 3,200 columns have been replaced while a number of LED lighting trials involving more than 1,000 LEDs have already been carried out.

As well as more efficient lights, the scheme could smart technology meters attached to columns capable of measuring air pollution, offering Wi-Fi connections, notifying motorists of free parking spaces and alerting council staff of gullies and refuse bins that need clearing.

Heritage lovers have been reassured that no cast iron lampposts will be replaced with modern designs under the project while council officers agreed at this month's policy, resources and growth committee to explore options for residents to pay for the maintenance of heritage lampposts.

A city council spokesman said: “The original report was written in early 2014 and was reflective of the work needed done at that time.

"Since then a number of changes have taken place meaning the original costing is out of date.

“These changes include the council investing heavily in the city’s street lighting structural maintenance and lanterns, cheaper lantern costs, wide angled LED lanterns that cover a greater area reducing the need for as many columns, and the council now looking at the seafront heritage separately.

“This new report accurately reflects the current situation, including savings for the council.”