Light pollution

[Beardy30]

I recently wrote to my local council concerning the light pollution from the numerous street lamps around my house and received a written reply today from the council leader which stated.... “Officers fitted shields to the street lights in this location to alleviate this problem in July 2020. We will re-assess and fit either an additional or alternative shield following identification and procurement of a suitable product. We will also be fitting an alternative lantern which may reduce light nuisance further”. 
 

so glad I did this and would say it’s definitely worth contacting the councils to ask ! 

Edited February 5, 2021 by Beardy30

[PXR-5]

That's great news 🙂

 

I haven't had much luck here in NC, USA

[Beardy30]

Definitely worth the 5 mins it took in emailing them , even offered him the opportunity after the covid pandemic to come over for a viewing session! 😂 never know might help the cause , always worth asking! 

[Carbon Brush]

A very positive response. A council acknowledging that street lighting is intrusive is important. It also sounds like they have (all but) acknowldged that they got it wrong on installation.
Thank you for your efforts.

My light polluters (Nottinghamshire County Council) produce so much waste light, it is difficult to know where to start.
I have had a few minor successes. But in all honestly it is like shovelling water up a hill.
They are of the opinon that brighter everywhere is better.

Please keep us updated.

David.

[Beardy30]

Certainly will 

[Craig F]

Not really a problem for me, our local council turns our street lighting off at around 11:00pm every evening, to "save money".

[Carbon Brush]

1 hour ago, Craig F said:

Not really a problem for me, our local council turns our street lighting off at around 11:00pm every evening, to "save money".

Notts started a scheme a few years ago. Then the county hall door was repainted a different colour following an election and the idea abandoned.
Well not just abandoned. Those lights that had been turned off were turned back on!😬🙄

 

[Les Ewan]

Street lighting is not the main problem for me as street lighting technology has reduced pollution markedly over the last few years even though my local village 4kms away has almost doubled in size since 2000 .No it's tall pole floodlighting from the car parks of recently built  shopping centres, conference complexes and sports fields that   have increased without any apparent restriction . Even a new school car park 8km away has several of these beacons visible from my site all night. I consider myself lucky however as my southern,eastern and most of the west has no pollution and I can see the Milky Way.I also have established hedging and bushes that helps screen a lot of light. I do feel for observers in Fife having Edinburgh and its conurbations ruining their Southern aspect.

[SiriusB]

I'm glad you received a favourable response from the council, ours is not so helpful...just wish they'd turn off after 11pm like Craigs do.

I'm sure the technology is there to provide lighting where it's needed/ 'needed' whilst producing minimal 'runoff' but like most things cheapest solution is perceived as 'best' solution.

Ignoringany  astronomers wishes for the moment, light pollution is an enviromental issue, affects wildlife etc.

we should be doing what we can to protect our environment.

Maybe i'll stop there before i get in trouble 😉

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Fantastic blinkin' news here! I have just walked toward the conservatory to check the sky. It was unusually dark in there, so I thought the LED street lamp causing most of my local light problems is broken (yippee!). Well I went out to check and through the binoculars could see a big rectangular shield covering the whole side of the lamp!

It must have been done today. This has taken a year and three requests. The last one being last week. Brilliant!

Don't give up if trying. 👍

 

The unobtrusive glow above was once a blinding lamp.

Edited April 6, 2021 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Barry-W-Fenner]

I am not having much joy with our council. Sent two polite emails with pics of the offending lights and still no reply. To make matters worse our council hasn't even managed to join the rest of the country in the 21st century and install led lighting yet. We still have the sodium lights and the sky is a shade of orange. My folks live 2 miles away and have led street lighting as they are under a different borough and the sky is noticeably darker where they are.

Baz

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Sucks Barry.  Over the course of a year or so I have sent two polite requests via their repairs web page without reply, then several months after the second, sent another last week. This time, straight to the point and simple, "Light trespass to the rear of xx xxxxx. Please fit a shield."

Hey presto, done without me even noticing until darkness fell. There are now no shadows cast by me when walking around, I don't need to close one eye coming in and out of the house and the astro corner is darker still.

Keep trying.

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[SteveNickolls]

On 05/02/2021 at 12:13, Carbon Brush said:

Notts started a scheme a few years ago. Then the county hall door was repainted a different colour following an election and the idea abandoned.
Well not just abandoned. Those lights that had been turned off were turned back on!😬🙄

 

In a wee while you will get chance to vote in the county council elections but I doubt any change will happen as regards street lighting. Such a shame the dimmed lights etc got put backon at night.

[discardedastro]

1 hour ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

I am not having much joy with our council. Sent two polite emails with pics of the offending lights and still no reply. To make matters worse our council hasn't even managed to join the rest of the country in the 21st century and install led lighting yet. We still have the sodium lights and the sky is a shade of orange. My folks live 2 miles away and have led street lighting as they are under a different borough and the sky is noticeably darker where they are.

Baz

The good news is that if you're imaging, sodium line filters are much less problematic than white LED filters, and even for visual should work better. But direct light intrusion still sucks, for sure.

21 minutes ago, SteveNickolls said:

In a wee while you will get chance to vote in the county council elections but I doubt any change will happen as regards street lighting. Such a shame the dimmed lights etc got put backon at night.

Regardless of what your local councillors are, politically speaking or otherwise, it never hurts to write to them (or your MP) on occasion to raise awareness. If you have specific actionable things to discuss then all the better but making them aware that there is at least a proportion of their voters interested in the matter will certainly make more of a difference than doing nothing!

[Louis D]

It's my neighbors' back porch lights that light up my backyard.  There's not much I can do about them other than asking them to shut them off when no one is in their backyard.  Some are sympathetic, others feel safer keeping their yard floodlit at night and refuse to change their ways.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Louis D

[reezeh]

7 hours ago, Louis D said:

It's my neighbors' back porch lights that light up my backyard.  There's not much I can do about them other than asking them to shut them off when no one is in their backyard.  Some are sympathetic, others feel safer keeping their yard floodlit at night and refuse to change their ways.

If you're young enough to have a good amount of time ahead of you (no offence intended) perhaps you can plant a strategically placed shrub or tree or two. Maybe that'll deal with the problem as time goes by. Then again, the damn things seem to be triggered by the tiniest twitch of a leaf or blade of grass in the slightest breeze like the one next door to me.

He's angled it away a bit but it still spends more time on than off.

I'm resorting to the trees method...

[reezeh]

12 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Fantastic blinkin' news here! I have just walked toward the conservatory to check the sky. It was unusually dark in there, so I thought the LED street lamp causing most of my local light problems is broken (yippee!). Well I went out to check and through the binoculars could see a big rectangular shield covering the whole side of the lamp!

It must have been done today. This has taken a year and three requests. The last one being last week. Brilliant!

Don't give up if trying. 👍

 

The unobtrusive glow above was once a blinding lamp.

Won't it be great if they were all low pressure sodium yellow and shielded and fitted with passive infra red sensors to only come on when people and vehicles come near!

It'll be a win-win for everyone all-round 

That'll be like eating your cake and still having double!