Streetlight Success Story

[BlueAstra]

Having finished my recent observatory updates (pier, flooring, insulation) I received a leaflet through the door informing me that the council had agreed a PFI deal with EON and new streetlights were to be installed in the neighbourhood. There was a ‘consultation’ period before installation (which I believe should have been a month), but the leaflets arrived two weeks before the proposed start date.

I looked at the online plan for my area and emailed EON for more details. This arrived and I noticed a nearby lamp was to be replaced with a LED type. This lamp was currently shielded from the obs by a garage roof line, so not much of a problem I thought. The reply also showed examples of the reduced light pollution due to the more downward bias of the reflectors. I replied with another email explaining my hobby and situation, and requesting that the position of some lamps were changed slightly, heights checked, and small shades applied to shield direct light. I explained this was in the form of a wish list for an ideal solution, but anything they could do would be greatly appreciated.

I received no reply from EON, and a few days later the lamps were installed. To my disappointment none of my suggestions were taken up, and the nearby LED lamp was much higher that the old lamp. This nicely lit up the observatory and fence behind the garage, causing light scatter into the scope and seriously inhibiting any sort of photography.

I emailed EON with no luck, so turned to my local councillor. I contacted him and explained the situation, he contacted EON and the council streetlighting department and things began to happen. EON replied that the person who I had originally contacted had left the company, so my suggestions were not forwarded on. They sent round an engineer to discuss the issues to try to find a solution (all of which would have been simple to implement during installation, but now expensive mods). He tried some black tape in the reflector, but this had no effect.

Some time passed with no contact from EON after this, so I kept enquiring about progress with the councillor and EON. Eventually EON agreed to my simple proposal that they cut the lamp pole down to locate the lamp below the garage ridge line. They turned up at 9pm last night to do the job!

So now the light scatter has gone, and I’m happy again! If you come up against the same problem, the lessons I learned are:

Immediately contact the installer company and council streetlighting department, calmly explaining the issues and offering some solutions.

Try to get some agreement before installation

Contact/Join BAA’s Dark Skies Section for useful information

Do not get emotional or angry, keep calm and reasonable

If you are not getting any progress, contact your local councillor

Keep the pressure up with regular requests for updates

Good luck if you have a problem!

[emadmoussa]

That's brilliant.

I ran a story for 3 months on a similar subject here on SGL.

The council finally came and and painted in the inside of the lamp and that cut down the astray light in my garden. It's better than before, but recently I started to see the painting getting more transparent. I'm thinking I'll take action myself and just shield the light. To be honest, the whole street will be just fine without the light at all.

Again, happy for you. Next thing you need to do is neutralize your neighbors :D

[PhobosPhil]

Job well done!

An interesting read that I may have to make use of soon, as the nice dark field behind my garden is being replaced with a housing estate over the next few years, so at some point i'll need to find out which party will be dealing with the street lights.

[emadmoussa]

Here's the thread

[damnut]

Streetlamp to the side of our house - two lengths of 3m batten duck taped together, dogs leg paint brush & a tin of black hammerite - Sorted!

[faulksy]

very nice story and a great result, very happy for you

[Colin A]

Good result in the end. I have 2 churches behind me that like to leave there floodlights on! Maybe i'll take a page out of your book and ask politely.

[emadmoussa]

Good result in the end. I have 2 churches behind me that like to leave there floodlights on! Maybe i'll take a page out of your book and ask politely.

Maybe you should ask politely, saying that praying wasn't possible with the lights on.

[Stargazer_00]

That's a great story. I'm sorry to say I'm more likely to take matters into my own hands.

[Paranoidsam]

I wish I could be so lucky... the council put up a new light right over my observing area. It's not LED but it's stark white...

Sadly no reduction in height, or shielding will solve the problem... only for it to be switched off.

[Paranoidsam]

This is the new light... I normally setup my scope on the grass here. It's the only area I've got for it... I've contacted the council twice about it now, and just had a "we'll look into it" in reply... followed by nothing.

[andrew63]

Good to hear you have a good result.

andrew

[emadmoussa]

This is the new light... I normally setup my scope on the grass here. It's the only area I've got for it... I've contacted the council twice about it now, and just had a "we'll look into it" in reply... followed by nothing.

You need to bug them...or shield I

[ibraidwo]

Good news.

One point to add would be to request confrmation of receipt as part of your initial email/letter. This coud alleviate the 'person no longer works there issue'. You would be in the right if you then pursued earlier on through lack of an initial response.