Street Lighting Complaints?

[Paranoidsam]

Hi...

Recently the council sent some workmen around to replace a dead street light near my house. The new one is a dazzlingly bright, white light and it's completely ruined what was a fairly dark site...

I had a look out last night during a clear spell, it's brighter than a full Moon by a long way... it actually hurts your eyes to look at.

The old light was a Sodium-Vapor type, and produced a much more reasonable (and dimmer) orange glow... it finally popped a couple of months ago and until now I've had pitch blackness at night... it was great!

But this new light is absolutely awful...

I'm wondering if anyone knows the correct channels to go through to get it changed or removed... I'm in North Wales.

Any advice is welcome...

[The Sailor]

Okay, first thing, don't do it as a complaint as this will get their backs up. What you need to do is first of all get the lamppost number, find out which concil maintains it, phone the council up and ask to be put through to the revelant department. Speak if possible to the lighting engineer putting your case that is intrudes on your life and can it be shaded.

I have done this myself and after a nice chat the light was shaded the next day, hope that is of some help.

Jim

[Paranoidsam]

Thanks Jim, do you know if they'd be able to put a red filter or something on it?

[The Sailor]

Thanks Jim, do you know if they'd be able to put a red filter or something on it?

Have you ever seen a red filter on a street lamp, I know I haven't. If possible they will put a shade or paint it depending on they type. I was lucky enough that the lights I contacted them about were owned by the local council but maintained by the county council, they did not have to do anything. The white lights although bright were not a problem for me as they were directed downwards but the sodium light a few metres from me had a big orb of light and this they shaded with a strip of plastic which is still in place almost a year later. As said talk nice and you will get somewhere probably fast and without payment .

Jim

[Paranoidsam]

Have you ever seen a red filter on a street lamp, I know I haven't. If possible they will put a shade or paint it depending on they type. I was lucky enough that the lights I contacted them about were owned by the local council but maintained by the county council, they did not have to do anything. The white lights although bright were not a problem for me as they were directed downwards but the sodium light a few metres from me had a big orb of light and this they shaded with a strip of plastic which is still in place almost a year later. As said talk nice and you will get somewhere probably fast and without payment .

Jim

The old sodium light was a bit of a pain, but I'd have it any day over this.

Also this new light is higher up and shines across a wider area.

I live up a quiet country lane, there's hardly any traffic of any kind at night... this lamp seems like serious overkill

[Gweedo]

The people that you need to speak to in your council will be called something like your 'Street Care' or 'Street Scene' service. The chances are that they'll be used to getting calls like this and they will want to help.

As Jim said, don't complain - they are people just like us!

[nicks90]

alternatively, as you live in the country - a local farmer might have a shotgun accident whilst out shooting vermin. Afterall its taken them months to sort out the last one that went pop

[The Sailor]

alternatively, as you live in the country - a local farmer might have a shotgun accident whilst out shooting vermin. Afterall its taken them months to sort out the last one that went pop

I suppose your not one of those people who complain where your taxes are spent.

Jim

[SpaceWatcher]

When they changed the lights near me I called the council and said it interfered with astronomy and was told they could do nothing. I left it a week and called again and said it was shining in the bedroom and preventing me sleeping and they sent someone round to fit a shade two days later.

Chose your reason for wanting it looked at well and they should be happy to help

[nicks90]

I suppose your not one of those people who complain where your taxes are spent.

Jim

tongue in cheek humour doesnt translate well on forums, apologies.

[ak785]

There is a little know UK regulation known as Section 102 of th Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, which amended Section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 - it includes nuisance from artificial light. Now there are exceptions to this rule, which are facilites where safety is paramount and require high levels of artificial lighting for that to be ensured, such as, Airports, Defence Facilities, Bus Stations etc you can imagine the list. The local council would need to come out to your property and assess the light pollution and its affects on the surrounding areas.

There are a number of options available too them, such as installing a lower intensity bulb, a better shader or just turning the thing off if it is not needed.

Hope this helps (my last suggestion was tongue in cheek and didn't go down too well with the mods)

[laser_jock99]

If it is a new LED type lamp it should be relativley easy to lower the intensity.

[colesmat]

I've had a similar streetlamp installed very near to my house but not close enough to claim that it is a nuisance. The problem is it is basically at the side of my house so doesn't shine in any windows whatsoever but does leave a glow over the fence in my garden (where I want to observe). Could I still put anything forward does anyone think?

[SteveA]

If you do live in the country and and have a local parish council...as I do, that may be your best port of call in the first instance.

I had a similar issue when the local street lamps were replaced. I wrote to the local parish council with my grievance, which centered on one particular light that lit my back garden. They in turn brought in the county council, who installed a shield around the lamp that was causing me a problem. This unfortunately didn't get any where near cutting down the glare...so I took it back to the PC...suggesting that they may consider turning the offending light off for part of the night.

To my amazement..they were happy to explore this suggestion. The PC did consult with local residents and also ran a one month trial..but ultimately the lamp in question is now turned off after 12:30...and I now have a dark garden.

It's a pity it doesn't get turned off earier, but it's a fair compromise.

The whole proces took around 5 months...and I took a very "softly..softly" approach, I'm sad to say I didn't "play" the astronomy card, but focused on the nuisance caused to the rear facing bedrooms...this was a bit of a fib...but it did achieve the intended result...

Steve