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Finally, some good street lighting news

Midpoint

By Midpoint
in The Astro Lounge

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Midpoint

Midpoint

Posted
Posted

It seems that the street lighting on the road behind my house have been put on timers. At some point between 1 and 2 am all the lights went off, which was a pleasant surprise. A quick check this morning and it looks like they've had some sort of green attachment fitted to the top of them.

I'm guessing it's just a trial as only one road seems to have been done but it's certainly encouraging. Does street lighting tend to be controlled by the local or county council? I wouldn't mind sending them a thank you email so that they know someone appreciates their efforts. :)

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earth titan

earth titan

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Sounds like progress. Ours got seriously reduced a few months ago and made a big difference.

Who owns them, depends on the roads. Some are highways agency (thse tend to be the high pressure sodiums), some are county council and some parish. I think you will have most luck with county ones.

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glowjet

glowjet

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If it is side road lighting you are referring too, it most probably will be you local Council, if its major roads, they normally come under the County Council Highways Lighting Dept. You are very lucky, signs of times to come we all hope :)

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Carbon Brush

Carbon Brush

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By all means send a 'thank you' note. I know that the councils nationwide are trying save money. Against this is the fear that we are all going to be murdered in our beds if the lights go out. Give them all the encouragement and suppoort you can. A wide field photo before/after can be very good - if other lights in the area turn off.

When I have been aware of 'turn off' schemes by distant councils, I have written to thank them for their forward thinking. Adding that where they lead others will hopefully follow. I also copied the letters to Nottinghamshire County Council (my local light pollution producer) to give them the hint that they are lagging behind.

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Midpoint

Midpoint

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I decided to write to both the local and county councils, letting more people know probably won't hurt anyway. I also included in my local ward councillors directly so that maybe they'll know that someone likes the idea and they might add it to the agenda next time elections come up.

I'm hoping positive responses will outweigh the negative responses as although there are fears over crime, none of my neighbours have mentioned the lighting, so they've obviously not noticed any changes. :)

I'll let you know any responses I get back.

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Adrian

Adrian

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Our streetlighting is county council outsourced to SSE contracting, but the council website had links to get to the right place.

Hope this helps, as councils need encouragement when they do good things.

Edit: already done!

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Midpoint

Midpoint

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And I got my response from the County Council:

The County Council's Cabinet agreed in November 2010 to revert the vast majority of street lights in Hertfordshire to part night lighting in order to save £1.3million. This is not a trial but a permanent project.

The project is being rolled out across Welwyn Hatfield District at the moment (by district area) and will be rolled out to the rest of Hertfordshire over the next 18 months. There will be a few exceptions which are:

- lights near to road traffic obstructions such as major junctions

- town centres with a significant night time economy

- areas with CCTV coverage

The lights are fitted with a photocell that controls the switch off. The lights will switch off at approximately 12 midnight each evening although this can vary 15 minutes each way. In the winter months, the lights will switch back on at approximately 6am.

All in all, sounds great to me! I suggest people write to their councils to ask them to do the same. You never know, they may already be planning it.
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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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Is this a county or local council project? My local council will probably do nothing, but the county council may well have a department responsible for all the new (bright white) lights that are going up. I know that these new lights can be controlled centrally..

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TheThing

TheThing

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Just had a letter through our door to say that our street lamps are being replaced with 'white light' ones, which will be dimmed after 11:30pm!

I'm a bit sad to see the 1930's cast ones go, as they are pretty to look at but, hey!, that's progess!

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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Just had a letter through our door to say that our street lamps are being replaced with 'white light' ones, which will be dimmed after 11:30pm!

I'm a bit sad to see the 1930's cast ones go, as they are pretty to look at but, hey!, that's progess!

"which will be dimmed after 11:30pm!"

WOW! What progressive county council are you under? Surrey/Guildford?

All the best,

Mike

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TheThing

TheThing

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Epsom and Ewell Borough Council. I've sent them a thank you via their website, pointing out what a boon this will be to us astronomers!

Who knows, maybe I'll be able to show my little boy the Milky Way one day? Something I've never seen from home!

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Tim

Tim

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That really is good news! It will be interesting to see a comparison dark sky map with the lights on and off as they start to roll this out over the various areas.

I live on the outskirts of Coventry and the council there are replacing every street light with more efficient ones. The shielding is supposed to be better, so I will be looking with interest to see if the skies are any better.

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Carbon Brush

Carbon Brush

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Just had a letter through our door to say that our street lamps are being replaced with 'white light' ones, which will be dimmed after 11:30pm!

I'm a bit sad to see the 1930's cast ones go, as they are pretty to look at but, hey!, that's progess!

Perhaps a suggestion here?

Take some wide field pictures to show the differences in LP with the existing lighting, new LED lighting and off conditions.

If your existing lights are LP sodium, then with/without an LP filter would be good.

There have been a lot of questions on here about what lights are better, or owrse, for astronomers. You have the opportunity to provide us all with information about three different lighting conditions.

You might also want this 'evidence' if (as I suspect) the new led lighting is so bright that it swamps your night sky. Showing the council the light levels before & after changes could help you.

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todd8137

todd8137

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thats great news for you ,my local council controls the lights they did paint me a few out which was great they also told me over the next four years all lights in Derbyshire will be turned of on a night but they said that last year

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