Time for action....North West

[Hypernova]

Still no response from Cheshire East as of yet.

[jasperuk]

BLACKPOOL COUNCIL REPLY

Dear Mr Billington,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – INFORMATION REQUEST

I am writing to confirm that we have now completed our search for the information you requested on April 26th.

The information you requested is set out below:

QUESTION 1a) Do you have any plans in place to tackle the effect of light pollution/wasted energy (carbon footprint), which you are currently implementing in your area today?

Response: The Authority is replacing 80% of the street lighting in the Borough as part of a five-year investment programme that started in January 2011. The replacement lighting is being designed to the latest standards with regard to light levels and light pollution.

QUESTION 1b) If you are not at this time actively attempting to reduce light pollution but have any future plans to do so that you intent to implement in the near future can you tell me what these are and when you intend to start ?

Response: The Authority is actively reducing light pollution by using the latest standards in replacement of our lighting (see response to 1a).

QUESTION 1c) If you have no plans in place now or the future would you consider any of the following and if not why:

§Reduction of individual light intensity per streetlight unit by half (if possible based on designs and age of lighting) over the time period 12am-5am on selected or all available street lighting;

§The switching off of a reasonable percentage of streetlight up to 50% of your total streetlight you are responsible for again between 12am-5am;

§The switching off of all streetlights you are responsible for again between 12am-5am.

Response: The new lighting installed as part of the investment programme referred to in Response 1a) will have a remote switching capability. The Authority intends to develop a variable light level policy once the remote switching capability has been installed.

QUESTION 2) How many street lights (approximately) are you responsible for lighting/maintaining and approx how much per day/year these street lights cost to run?

Response:Approximately 17,000 street lights. The cost to run a street light is approximately 19p per day and £68 per year.

QUESTION 3) How many of the street lights you are responsible for (again approximately) are sodium lights and how many have been replaced with LED or better lighting?

Response: Approximately 95% of the street lights are sodium light. The Authority currently has approximately 500 LED lighting units

QUESTION 4) How many lights are of a design that required and have had a shield fitted to direct light downwards?

Response: The Authority does not have a policy of installing external shields as part of the street lighting design. All lanterns have integral reflectors that direct the light downwards. However, there are approximately 10 shields fitted at the request of a local resident.

If you have a complaint about the handling of your request you may ask for an internal review and you should submit this in writing to: Council Complaint, Blackpool Council, PO Box 50, Town Hall, Blackpool, FY1 1NA.

If you are not happy with the outcome of the review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. You can contact the Information Commissioner at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, (www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk).

If you have any queries about this letter you can contact me, or write to: FOI, Town Hall, Blackpool, FY1 1NA, or email us at customer.first@blackpool.gov.uk. Please remember to quote your reference number when you contact us.

Yours sincerely

Philip Welsh,

Head of Directorate Development,

Places Directorate, Blackpool Council

[jasperuk]

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL :

Enquiries to: Kevin Symm

Your Ref:

Our Ref: FOI/146538

Mr Gavin Billington

Date: 26 May 2011

Dear Mr Billington

Freedom of Information request 146538

Thank you for your recent request received 28 April 2011 and actioned under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in which you requested the following information:

• (a) Do you have any plans in place to tackle the effect of light pollution / wasted energy (carbon footprint), which you are currently implementing in your area today?
  

1( If you are not at this time actively attempting to reduce light pollution but have any future plans to do so that you intent to implement in the near future can you tell me what these are and when you intend to start?

© If you have no plans in place now or the future would you consider any of the following and if not why:

• How many street lights (approximately) are you responsible for lighting/maintaining and approx how much per day/year these street lights cost to run?
  

• How many of the street lights you are responsible for (again approximately) are sodium lights and how many have been replaced with LED or better lighting?
  

• How many lights are of a design that required and have had a shield fitted to direct light downwards?
  

Response:

• a. The Council is currently looking at the possible introduction of dimming capability as part of a number of street lighting replacement schemes proposed through this years Capital Programme.
  

The full details of exactly what is proposed are still being considered hence this information is not currently available.

Although part-night lighting has been discussed, there are no proposals to take this measure forward at this stage. However, it is something which may be considered in the future should a suitable site / location be identified.

b. Please refer to the information provided in the previous response

c. Reduction of individual light intensity per streetlight unit by half (if possible based on designs and age of lighting) over the time period 12am-5am on selected or all available street lighting

The switching off of a reasonable percentage of streetlight up to 50% of your total streetlight you are responsible for again between 12am-5am.

The switching off of all streetlight you are responsible for again between 12am-5am.

• The Council is responsible for maintaining approx. 55,000 lighting columns at a cost of approximately £6m per year.
  

• Approximately 46,400 street lights are sodium. A further 2,500 have been replaced with Cosmopolis (white light)
  

No street lights have been replaced with LED at this stage, however approximately 200 illuminated traffic signs / bollards have been replaced.

• There are approximately 200 units across the City which are fitted with shields.
  

I trust this information satisfies your enquiry.

Yours sincerely

Mr Kevin Symm

Senior Information Officer

[cuzzer]

I live in Marshfield , Nr Bath (South West). Next March South Glos Council are switching off all street lights from 12:00 to 05:00am. Yahoo!!! Milky Way here we come !!!!!

[jasperuk]

REPLY : OLDHAM CITY COUNCIL

Freedom of Information Request – 2833 Environmental and Economical Effects of Waste Light.

1 (a) Do you have any plans in place to tackle the effect of light pollution / wasted energy (carbon footprint), which you are currently implementing in your area today?

The Authority has procured a Private Finance Initiative for street lighting, it will be joint project with our neighbouring Authority Rochdale Council, it is due to commence on 4th July 2011, the project will see approximately 80% of the substandard street lighting columns across both Boroughs replaced in the first 5 years of the contract, they will be replaced with energy efficient equipment which will be fitted with remote monitoring technology where by the energy consumption will be monitored electronically, there will also be the functionality to dim the lighting and control the switching regime which will effectively reduce burning hours, subsequently reduce energy usage.

The Authority as part of the replacement program will replace both Illuminated signs and bollards and replace with non-illuminated equipment by application of the associated Traffic Regulations

The street lighting installations will be designed to ensure that the intensity class as detailed in Annex A of BS 13201-2: 2003 will be applied so that upward light and glare is controlled and kept to a minimum.

( If you are not at this time actively attempting to reduce light pollution but have any future plans to do so that you intend to implement in the near future can you tell me what these are and when you intend to start?

Please see above

© If you have no plans in place now or the future would you consider any of the following and if not why.

· Reduction of individual light intensity per street light unit by half (if possible based on designs and age of lighting) over the period 12am – 5am on selected or all available street lighting?

· The switching off of a reasonable percentage of street lighting up to 50% of your total street lighting you are responsible for again between 12am – 5am.

· The switching off of all street lighting you are responsible for again between 12am – 5am.

All above options would be considered as part of the evaluation process with regard to diming and trimming street lighting together with other factors including consultation with stakeholders, crime statistics, road traffic accidents, volume of traffic, industrial, residential, rural, town centre areas, etc would need to be taken into account to ensure that informed decision can be made relation to carbon reduction and Public Safety.

2 – How many street lights (approximately) are you responsible for lighting and maintaining and approximately how much per day/year do these street lights cost to run.

The Authority is responsible for 27,500 street lighting columns and based on a 4 year Routine Maintenance Regime including energy the cost is approximately £1.3 million per annum, this excludes reactive maintenance and column replacement schemes.

3 - How many street lights you are responsible for (again approximately) are sodium lights and how many have been replaced with LED or better lighting?

The Authority currently has 9,661 High Pressure Sodium (SON-T) and 16,160 Low Pressure Sodium (SOX), there are no LED street lights in the Council at present.

4 – How many lights are of design that require and have had a shield fitted to direct the light?

The Authority always uses it best endeavours to design out light intrusion, and as a last resort shields are fitted, there are currently 2 fitted as a result of replacement schemes, there are also 3 fitted in retrospect on existing equipment from service request.

John McAuley

Street Lighting Manager

Oldham Council

Highways Maintenance Depot

Hamilton Street

Oldham, OL4 1DA

Tel: 0161 770 1669

E-mail: john.mcauley@oldham.gov.uk

[lukebl]

Well done on your continuing work on this. I do find it a bit disappointing that the issue of light pollution is not generally seen as important, and reducing lighting is even seen as an undesirable consequence of the need to reduce running costs. As I've said before, the general mass of the public seem to prefer floodlit streets, and the new generation of LED lamps provide both low running costs AND, regettably, brighter lights.

However, it is worth quoting from British Standard 5489: Code of practice for the design of road lighting, as local authorities should adhere to it, and perhaps we should remind them of their responsibility:

"Control of the light distribution of installations is necessary in order to limit obtrusive light and sky glow. In some cases lighting can be intrusive at night, e.g. in rural and open areas where lighting can be seen as an intrusion in an otherwise darkened environment.

Light above the horizontal should be minimized in all road lighting installations by controlling the intensity of light from luminaires at high angles.

Precautions should be taken to avoid unnecessary light intrusion into adjacent properties, however, a limited level of illumination onto front gardens and the face of properties can be beneficial in enhancing the appearance of the area and the protection of property.

NOTE 2 Further information is given in the ILE publication Guidance notes for reduction of light pollution [16].

Lighting ... schemes close to the edge of residential areas should also receive special attention. In these cases the light distribution should be controlled to minimize light spill on adjoining areas...."

[jasperuk]

First i got this email from SALFORD CITY COUNCIL :

Dear Mr Billington

Further to your request for information dated 27 April, we apologise for the delay in responding.

We are experiencing some difficulties collating the information but are hoping to provide a response as soon as possible or at the least by Friday 10 June.

If you wish to discuss the request please contact me on 0161 793 2878.

Kind regards

Lynn

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then i got this one ?????

Date 2 June 2011

SUBJECT: Freedom of Information request

Dear Mr White

I write in response to your recent Freedom of Information request received at our offices on 26 April 2011. You requested the following information:

1. How much did your council spend repairing kerbs, pavements and public walkways in 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006?

2010/11 - NIL

2009/12 - £439,700

2008/09 - £2,331,100

2007/08 - £1,684,700

2006/07 - £4,187,300

2. Where your council has a separate budget for reactive repairs on kerbs, pavements and public walkways, please give approximate figures for the amount spent in 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006.

2010/11 - £750,000

2009/10 - £800,000

2008/09 - £800,000

2007/08 - £853,000

2006/07 - £800,000

3. How much is reserved to cover the cost of litigation resulting from falls on broken kerbs, pavements or public walkways?

The information you have requested is exempt information under section 21 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act. This provides an exemption for information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 of the Act. The information you have requested

is declared in the annual statement of final accounts on page 79, which is a public document.

http://www.salford.gov.uk/budgetinformation.htm

4. How much was paid out in compensation claims due to poor paving (I am assuming this is for PI claims on the highway not necessarily on the pavement )after people have tripped and fallen in:

2010,2009,2008,2007 and 2006?

9/10 - £75K

8/9 - £446K

7/8 - £705K

6/7 - £1366k

5/6 - £1459K

The Council considers it has fulfilled your Freedom of Information request. However, if you are dissatisfied with the way your request has been handled, or wish to appeal this decision, you may wish to contact David Sackfield, Head of Business Support and Information Management, Customer and Support Services Directorate; email: david.sackfield@salford.gov.uk

Head of Business Support & Information Management

ICT Services

Salford City Council

Chorley Road

Civic Centre

Swinton

M27 5DA

Guidance on how to make a formal appeal against a decision under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is also available on our web site at www.salford.gov.uk.

Should you continue to disagree with any decision following an appeal you may wish to contact the Office of the Information Commissioner at:-

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire,

SK9 5AF

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45

Fax : 01625 524510

Yours sincerely,

Lynn Faulkner

Principal Information Governance Officer

Salford City Council

----------------------------------------

And finally....

Dear Mr Billington

I write in response to your recent Environmental Information Regulations request received at our offices on 27 April 2011. You requested the answers to the following questions around light pollution/energy waste from local street lighting and the Environmental and Economical effects wasted light has on the local environment and population.

Please note that the Environmental Information Regulations provide a right of access to any recorded information held, not covered by an exception. It does not relate to an opinion or judgement that is not already recorded. Therefore, in relation to your first questions (1a, 1b, and 1c) concerning implementation and reduction of energy the answers provided are in the spirit of co-operation outside of the Environmental Information regime.

1a) Do you have any plans in place to tackle the effect of light pollution / wasted energy (carbon footprint), which you are currently implementing in your area today?

The Council are developing an energy plan to reduce energy and reduce carbon emissions in line with Central Govt Carbon Reduction Commitment policy. In recent years we have moved away from inefficient (energy and light control) fittings to efficient light controlled units.

We have plans to introduce LED street lighting this financial year which will significantly reduce the Council’s energy bill and a corresponding reduction in carbon emissions.

1b) If you are not at this time actively attempting to reduce light pollution but have any future plans to do so that you intend to implement in the near future can you tell me what these are and when you intend to start ?

Please see the answer to question 1a) In addition to dimming and trimming we are currently implementing an LED installation programme to commence this financial year

1c) If you have no plans in place now or the future would you consider any of the following and if not why :

Reduction of individual light intensity per streetlight unit by half (if possible based on designs and age of lighting) over the time period 12am-5am on selected or all available street lighting

• The switching off of a reasonable percentage of streetlight up to 50% of your total streetlight you are responsible for again between 12am-5am.
  

This will be subject to individual assessment and consultation with residents, members, police . In addition to dimming and trimming we are currently implementing an LED installation programme to commence this financial year.

• The switching off of all streetlight you are responsible for again between 12am-5am.
  

It is not envisaged that we will be undertaking switch off.

2) How many street lights (approximately) are you responsible for lighting/maintaining and approx how much per day/year these street lights cost to run?

We can confirm that we have 28000 street lighting columns plus 4000 illuminated signs and 1000 illuminated bollards.

Unit cost for energy is 11.2p per kWh from 7.00am till midnight and 7.2p from midnight till 7.00am. Energy bill @ £1.2m

3) How many of the street lights you are responsible for (again approximately) are sodium lights and how many have been replaced with LED or better lighting?

At present approx 95% are a mix of low pressure and high pressure sodium.

4) How many lights are of a design that required and have had a shield fitted to direct light downwards?

We only fit shields to avoid light intrusion. Apart from uplighters and decorative units all other units shine the lights downwards.

The Council considers it has fulfilled your Freedom of Information request. However, if you are dissatisfied with the way your request has been handled, or wish to appeal this decision, you may wish to contact David Sackfield, Head of Business Support and Information Management, Customer and Support Services Directorate; email: david.sackfield@salford.gov.uk