Council staff recommended removing 39 street lamps from the Heritage Mall, near Bourke Street, as part of mall’s redevelopment.

Interested parties will be sought to buy or reuse the lamps, which were installed in the mid-1980s.

But a late addition to the recommendation from Cr Bob Geoghegan meant council would also investigate costs involved in modifying or repairing the lights so they could continue to be used.

“Even though they don’t have heritage value they have community value,” Cr Geoghegan said.

Save the Lamp Posts group spokesperson John Rodemaker suggested the lamp posts could be moved to the opposite end of Heritage Mall.

He said although the lamps looked as though they had heritage value, they were replicas modelled on a heritage lamp post in front of the museum in Morpeth and they were aesthetically pleasing.

“The lamp posts are a thread tying the main street together,” Mr Rodemaker said. “They should be an intricate part of our history and heritage.”

The removal of the lamps would make way for cost efficient LED lighting in the mall near Bourke Street.