A PROJECT to install a long-awaited lighting scheme on Weymouth seafront has begun - but it could be weeks until the first light is installed.

Work is going on "behind the scenes" according to Dorset Council.

The £265,000 project will see a total of 28 computer-controlled LED strips being installed on lampposts along the promenade between the Pier Bandstand and the Pavilion.

A Dorset Council spokesman confirmed that the work started on time yesterday. The project has been given an approximate completion date of Monday, November 25.

"Installation of the new lighting scheme began today and work is going on behind the scenes," the spokesman said.

"Residents will see the first LED light being installed in the coming weeks. We will share more information with you as to when the first light has been installed."

Lighting on Weymouth Esplanade has proven controversial ever since the old catenary lighting scheme - referred to locally as 'fairy lights' - was removed ahead of the 2012 Olympic sailing events and replaced with the current laser light scheme.

Many residents wanted a return of the old ‘fairy lights’ that used to twinkle along the seafront but this scheme was ruled out.

However the council said that LED strips can be programmed to be "strikingly modern, gently muted or twinkly and reminiscent of the catenary lights, depending on events."