Residents call for Canterbury City Council to issue an emergency Article 4 Direction
Canterbury’s distinctive cast-iron streetlights – many still stamped with the old Canterbury City Corporation crest – are under threat. Kent County Council (KCC) is condemning these historic columns and intends to replace them with generic steel poles fitted with standardised “heritage-style” embellishments.
Residents and heritage groups, including the Canterbury Society, Alliance of Canterbury Residents Associations (ACRA), and the Oaten Hill and South Canterbury Association (OHSCA), are calling on Canterbury City Council (CCC) to issue an emergency Article 4 Direction to protect these features before they are lost.
These elegant cast-iron columns are a unique part of Canterbury’s civic and industrial heritage. They were produced by H.M. Biggleston & Sons, a Canterbury ironworks founded in 1835 and located in the heart of the city. The firm supplied lamp posts to the City for nearly 130 years and, from 1908, became a leading manufacturer of electric street lighting equipment, supplying fittings across Britain and overseas. The foundry finally closed in 1963, but replica Biggleston-style columns continued to be installed and repaired in Canterbury well into the 21st century – with examples recorded as recently as 2023.
“These lamp columns are as much a part of Canterbury’s story as its walls or gates, — they are a 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.”
Campaigners argue that as Canterbury is a World Heritage City, its heritage assets must be prioritised. While KCC is carrying out the removals using its powers under the Highways Acts, Canterbury City Council is the only authority with the legal power to stop them.
Under planning law, CCC can issue an emergency Article 4 Direction to withdraw permitted development rights for the replacement or alteration of street lighting within the city’s Conservation Areas. This would bring such works under planning control and require formal permission for any future replacements – ensuring consistency and heritage-appropriate design.
“KCC state that they are not legally obliged to install heritage lighting…
….but that’s only true because CCC hasn’t acted to control this unwelcome change.
An Article 4 Direction would change that overnight – and force proper design oversight.”
Campaigners also highlight a lack of joined-up thinking within the City Council. While CCC’s £20 million Levelling Up Fund programme includes repainting and replicating cast-iron columns in Dane John Gardens and parts of the city centre, identical lamp posts on nearby public streets are being removed.
“It’s a lack of joined-up thinking,” said Mr Mayhew.
“The City Council is preserving these heritage assets in parks, yet turning a blind eye when they’re stripped out of the streetscape.”
A petition calling on Canterbury City Council to act has been launched by the Canterbury Society and will be formally presented to Cllr Alan Baldock, Leader of the Council.
The petition can be signed online via the Canterbury Society website.
my father worked at Biggleston foundry. Seeing those lamp posts disappear one by one breaks my heart. They’re part of our city’s story made here, for here you can’t just replace that with a bit of steel tubing from a Freemans catalogue.
I walk past these every day on the school run they’re part of what makes Canterbury feel like Canterbury.
It’s honestly wild that they’re replacing perfectly good posts instead of just repainting them.
We talk about sustainability all the time, and this is literally the opposite!! throwing away something that’s lasted a century for new steel that’ll need replacing again in 20 years. Heritage is sustainability.
These should be listed in order to protect them
The original lamppost in Castle Street by the junction with St John’s Lane was knocked down by a lorry some years ago and attempts to get the Council to replace it with the same kind have failed. They have placed a straight steel lamppost next to the bandaged stump of the old one which remains where it was. The local residents association have not replied to my recent messages to get them involved in this issue.