A GLOW-IN-THE-DARK path costing nearly £25,000 is to be installed in a park as part of a pioneering scheme to brighten up dimly lit areas in the borough.

Hammersmith and Fulham will become the first London borough to embrace a new approach to lighting public places with a new spray-on coating called Starpath.

It can be used on any solid surface and works by absorbing UV rays during the day and then expelling them at night, creating a blue glow.

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The council has asked Starpath’s makers, Pro-Tek Surfacing, to apply the product to the main commuter route through William Parnell Park, in Fulham, at a cost of £24,700.

Council leader Nicholas Botterill said: “It may look like something out of a science fiction film but this product has very real benefits. As well as improving safety by lighting up one of our less well-lit parks, Starpath is environmentally sound, with no ongoing energy costs or light pollution.

“If Starpath proves popular with park users here it could be rolled out to other under-lit public places in the borough that are a little more off the beaten track.”

Not only will Starpath brighten up the dimly lit park’s path at night without the need for traditional, costly and more intrusive lighting, its application process helps repair and reinforce surfaces on to which it is sprayed.

It contains a bioluminescent material which glows brighter the darker it gets. It will be used alongside the existing lighting in and around William Parnell Park. The finished surface is non-slip and water resistant.

It has recently been tested in Christ’s Pieces park, in Cambridge, where 150 sq m of path were sprayed and ready for use in less than four hours.