Tesco new store LP

[adamsp123]

We have a new Tesco store in Welshpool roughtly 600m from me as the crow flies. Since its opening there is a wide "beam" of white light that rises up from their car park area to near zenith.

The number of new lights along the road and in their car park is staggering, along the roads there must be one every 20 metres or so and many more in the car park. At night the car park is brighter than daytime!!

I have emailed their customer services and corporate responsibilty departments with a plea for them to reduce the amount of light pollution and save energy late in the night by turning off some of the lights.

As a supposedly "green" company I wonder what response I will get?

[NGC 1502]

Hi Pete, good luck with sorting this. The best sky I've seen was not too far from you

at Madogs Wells in Mid Wales. Tesco are not well liked in some areas, you would think they would do all they could to improve their image.

Regards, Ed.

[Bizibilder]

Complain to the council as well and do it immediately - the pollution is seriously damaging the environment of your property - I can't remember the phrase but it is something like "the normal enjoyment of your home". Get the neighbours to complain as well, if they will.

[laser_jock99]

Tesco are not well liked in Mid Wales - they have built unwanted & unecessary large stores in both Welshpool and Newtown (where there were already enough supermarkets) and they have their greedy eyes set on Machynleth and other towns too. They are using their corporate might to squeeze out the competition in these relativley small towns.

The light pollution caused by these new developments is a real issue. Good luck with with complaints, maybe a letter to the County Times might get a result?

[m.tweedy]

Have a look at this link and in particular about the light being a form of advertising and needing consent together with the aircraft hazard.

Skybeams

Hope it helps

[m.tweedy]

here is an extract from a cfds document

In a landmark decision in Jan. 2000, Her Majesty's Planning Inspector Ava Wood classified a night-club skybeam in Guildford as an advertisement, even though no overt advertising supported it. She called it 'an alien presence in the countryside', and ordered it to be switched off. The CfDS gave evidence in support of the night sky at this enquiry. The Guildford decision meant that such displays could possibly be opposed under advertising legislation, and hard work by Martin Morgan-Taylor in 2007 with DEFRA and the DCLG means that now, all skybeams and similar displays must have permission under those regulations before being switched on. The new regulations can be seen at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/321506

Campaign for Dark Skies: Update

[adamsp123]

Thanks for the responses.

I will wait to see what Tesco say.... County times was possibly my next route.

I will try and get a picture taken using my Canon on a long exposure to add to the complaint.... I will keep you posted

[iamjulian]

Shropshire Star may be interested. One of the journalists there, Sam Pinnington (SPinnington@shropshirestar.co.uk) has recently been writing a piece about light pollution in Shropshire. The paper covers Powys too and loves any story to do with Tesco.

[Beulah]

Julian's suggestion is an excellent one. Hope it ends up on the website, I'll be adding my comment!!

That's disgusting, Pete. It doesn't just affect the poor people in the town, but that light does increases for the rural dwellers. I am aware Welshpool's light dome is pretty bad - similar to how bad Bridgnorth is. I've also noticed after looking at some pictures of towns in the UK at night (news articles), as to how bright the streets seem with the new LED lights.

Are the lights in your area LED?

As for successful independant businesses in Wales, Tescos and the likes of them are not needed. That's kinda part of the charm of the country, there are still areas that don't fall foul of corporations.

[adamsp123]

I suppose I must clarify something here, the lights seem to be the fully shrouded type and correctly point downwards, but there are so many of them in the car park and on the roads ajoining the Store it is the reflection off the road that is causing the issue. Honestly if you drive past at night the area is incredibly bright, almost blindingly so. I am amazed nearby house owners haven't complained.

I will note the Shropshire star contact.. could be very useful, where is News of the World when you need them.

[Psychobilly]

wonder if they would "flock" the car park... I am wondering what will happen when the surface is damp....

[jamespels]

where is News of the World when you need them.

Gone, thank whoever. NI and Sky support goes to he highest bidder and they are / were more likely to turn it into an article about geeks spying through their neighbours' windown or something.

No doubt an equally evil paper will pop up in NOTW's place but let's just be grateful for the gap while it exists.

<gets off soap-box>

J.

[Beulah]

I suppose I must clarify something here, the lights seem to be the fully shrouded type and correctly point downwards, but there are so many of them in the car park and on the roads ajoining the Store it is the reflection off the road that is causing the issue. Honestly if you drive past at night the area is incredibly bright, almost blindingly so. I am amazed nearby house owners haven't complained.

I will note the Shropshire star contact.. could be very useful, where is News of the World when you need them.

Daily Mail will come in handy too...I am serious.

Nearby house owners probably don't look outside at night. Mind you, if someone went round and asked everyone, it may raise awareness.

I imagine the reflections are bouncing off the shiny new tarmac too.

[adamsp123]

Quick update - Nothing yet from Tesco.

I drove past the site today to drop in and see my Mum and a quick count I reckon there are 22 lights on the road along the store perimeter which I would say is no more than 200metres long.....then add the car park lights on top....

Now I don't know if the council are to blame for having such a ridiculous number of lamps in such a small area... I will find out.

[Beulah]

Quick update - Nothing yet from Tesco.

I drove past the site today to drop in and see my Mum and a quick count I reckon there are 22 lights on the road along the store perimeter which I would say is no more than 200metres long.....then add the car park lights on top....

Now I don't know if the council are to blame for having such a ridiculous number of lamps in such a small area... I will find out.

That sounds like a nightmare I had the other night!! Except the lights were all around my garden...

Overkill to the extreme.

Have you considered going out there and taking some pictures?

[Simms]

Daily Mail will come in handy too...I am serious.

They`ll blame hoodies and muslims.

[laser_jock99]

Quick update - Nothing yet from Tesco.

I drove past the site today to drop in and see my Mum and a quick count I reckon there are 22 lights on the road along the store perimeter which I would say is no more than 200metres long.....then add the car park lights on top....

Now I don't know if the council are to blame for having such a ridiculous number of lamps in such a small area... I will find out.

When you do your letter to the County Times about excessive lighting/energy waste don't forget mention power lines & wind farms. Something along the lines of 'if we didn't waste all this energy trying to turn night into day we wouldn't need all these wind farms and powerlines in Wales....'.

http://nwn-images.isledev.co.uk/assets/original/2011/04/PowerPoster.pdf

County Times POWER MAD poster.

[Beulah]

VERY good point, Laser Jock.

[Psychobilly]

You have got to get the power from all those lovely mountain top wind turbines somehow....

[hemihaggis]

i never said this ....200w laser pointer .

lights have a sensor ......... mmm i wonder ...

but seriously many local authorites are starting to take complaints about light pollution seriously now , my local authority has a policy replacing street lights with well engineerd downward pointing low pressure sodium street lights ,and only using high pressure sodium on main carrigeways .

there is also a case for lighting to disturbing local wildlife habitat , as when the lights cause a continoius daytime affecting the sleep patterns of birds, animals insects , ect ..might be worth contacting local animal protection groups ....

also the local authority will have a wildlife officer ....

[laser_jock99]

i never said this ....200w laser pointer .

lights have a sensor ......... mmm i wonder ...

200W? You could begin to start cutting through the lamp posts with that kind of power!

[Psychobilly]

We used to chop people up with 20-50W of CO2...

[adamsp123]

Update.... this I have just received from Tesco.....

Thank you for your email.

Firstly, please allow me to apologise for the delay in getting back to you. Please let me assure you that we try to endeavour to get back to all enquiries as quickly as possible, and I’m very sorry that we’ve let you down in that respect.

I'm very sorry to learn of your concerns with the lighting in the Car Park of our Welshpool store. I appreciate how cocnerning this must be for you.

Further to this, I'd like to advise you that I've fully logged the details of your concerns to ensure that our Store Management team look into this mater on your behalf to see if there is anythign that can be done to prevent this.

Please be advised although I’ve passed the details of your concerns onto our Store Management Team, I’ve not requested for them to contact you regarding this matter. However, please be assured that our Store Management Teamwill investigate this internally to prevent it from happening again.

Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention.

Customer satisfaction is very important to me. So I would be very grateful if you could let me know if you’re unhappy with any part of my email. Please don't hesitate to contact me again by replying to this email if there is anything I’ve missed.

Whether this is a load of old flannel I don't know but I will give them a week to give me more feedback, in the mean time I will try and get some pics of the light beam and of the myriad of lights around the Store.

cheers

[Bizibilder]

Apart from having to insert "lighting in the Car Park" and "Welshpool" this is just a standard letter.

Notice "to prevent this from happening again" - which clearly makes no sense at all in the context!

[adamsp123]

Apart from having to insert "lighting in the Car Park" and "Welshpool" this is just a standard letter.

Notice "to prevent this from happening again" - which clearly makes no sense at all in the context!

Exactly right, well I won't let it rest.....