Small but significant LP victory

[reddoss]

I have been attending the twice yearly Astrocamp in the Brecon Beacons since it started a few years back. It is held in a campsite near the village of Cwmdu, the main road of which forms a trunk road through the National Park which was has Dark Sky status.  

In April of this year I was the first to arrive at the campsite, a few days early before the main weekend started. I was horrified to find that the street lights in the village had been changed to extremely bright LEDs. The bottom field of the campsite is right next to the road, it was so bright that you could have held and International  Football match there. The authorities had installed them in villages across the National Park which had major trunk roads through them. I took a picture with my mobile phone and posted on the Astrocamp Face Book page. I also talked to a number of the local residence in the morning who were also unhappy with the new street lights.

Within a few hours many people in positions of authority within the local community, the National Park, The Welsh Government and Dark Skies for Wales (to name but a few) were contacted. This led to a sustained campaign by the organisers and participants of Astrocamp and many others, this has been a lot of hard work especially by the organisers.  We have finally received some good news from the Welsh Government cabinet who wrote to Kirsty Williams who is the local Welsh MP for Cwmdu. See the letter below for details.

 

 

[Ouroboros]

Well, at least they're making the right noises. Good luck with it.  

Lighting in rural villages is so inconsistent isn't it. Some don't bother at all and others are lit up like Blackpool. 

[MarsG76]

Nice work, not often you get a positive response from a council or a government organisation unless there is something financial gain like in it for them.

[happy-kat]

Well done, good work.

[PeterW]

If they are in the Brecon dark sky area then there should have been dialog and light pollution borne in mind. If they're like the LED round here they will be nicely full cutoff so light traspass will be reduced, though if you're close in you'll be nicely blinded. I would ask for shields to be fitted to block them from the site. I heard that near me some lights are going off after midnight... why pay for light when no one is about?! Car headlights do a pretty good job showing you what's about, streetlights never seem to be much extra help... spotting pedestrians for instance, regardless of colour. We should school people in road safety and make reflective jackets and torches more common items. 

Peter

[Stu]

29 minutes ago, PeterW said:

We should school people in road safety and make reflective jackets and torches more common items. 

Totally agree with that Peter. I nearly a pedestrian last winter.... the fact that he was dressed entirely in black and was walking in complete shadow on my side of the road made him a little tricky to spot!!

Well done on getting the changes made to the lighting. It should not just be a temporary thing though, the dark skies should be there there to be seen all the time! Will the dimming stay in place?

[PeterW]

Full cut off most important, then sinking and part lighting. Limit the spread, then we don't have to go as far to escape the London Glow.

 

peter

[Stu]

Just now, PeterW said:

Full cut off most important, then sinking and part lighting. Limit the spread, then we don't have to go as far to escape the London Glow.

 

peter

Yep, agreed. But the dimming round here after midnight certainly helps. My skies used to be Mag 18 to 18.5, now they are 18.5 to 19 on a good night.

[ollypenrice]

Well done. 

Olly

[kirkster501]

Well done in getting the jobsworths to play nicely.

[Alan White]

Just read this update, excellent news.

I am all for road safety and proportional lighting where needed, this looks to have been verging on the ridiculous side of the scale to me.
Dimming and switch off later is very sensible all round.

A big thanks and well done to all involved.

[Mr niall]

Lovely stuff, nice to see it has been taken seriously.

[Cjg]

This is a great result, especially as one local councillor gave the response "Move the camp", and posted derogatory comments about tourists. (We found that his business was helping people overcome S106 planning regulations). 

Many people helped by writing to the Assembly Member, highlighting the story to the local BBC news and involving the http://www.darksky.org/. 

Last May's camp had the best skies I've enjoyed in the Brecons; am looking forward to September. 

Persistence paid off this time.

Clear skies!

Chris