declaring war on the street light

[richbyers]

Got my first sight of Jupiter last night, completely ruined by the only street light at the end of the garden, so i think its time to declare war!

rich

[LukeSkywatcher]

What i LOVE about England is that IF you have a bothersome streetlight near you, that you can contact your local authorities and ask them to erect a cover/shield around it so the light from it is blocked out.

I dont have a streetlight anywhere near my observing location (my back garden), so this has never been an issue for me BUT i am pretty damn sure that IF i had this problem and contacted my local council about it and asked them to do something about it that one of two things would happen:

1/ I'd spend hours on the phone being passed around from department to department talking to pencil pushers and nothing would be done about it.

OR

2/ I would be told (in no uncertain terms) to go and stick the streetlight where the sun dont shine.

I really love the fact that "people power" seems to work in the UK. Even if it is just a one person revolution.

BTW~~~IF i ever had this problem and complained and got a resolution on it, the whole operation of fitting a shield on the light would involve a 10 man crew and cost somewhere in the region of maybe 15,000 euro.

Local councils here know how to extort cash from the government.

So Rich................what is your plan of action?

[richbyers]

Mmmm basing on your opinion i think that its a ladder and black tape job haha, but seriously i live in a nice remote cottage- perfect but for this single b***ering thing, so i might traipse some black cloth round the trees, apart from that i dont know.....

[Tddun]

If only it was one streetlight causing problems for me.. Although I don't have one major one which is a huge disturbance.. the general lot of them are still a nuisance.

[Roel]

I've got 2 solutions for one annoying street light, just behind my back yard:

1. Black tape

2. A thick garbage bag on a stick

It gave me back my Milky Way!

[Beulah]

I've got 2 solutions for one annoying street light, just behind my back yard:

1. Black tape

2. A thick garbage bag on a stick

It gave me back my Milky Way!

You genius!

[richbyers]

Well done that man! i may just have to do that tonight

[LukeSkywatcher]

Isnt it illegal to tamper with council property?.

Then again who is gonna know at 2-3am.

[Earl]

Thw wind blew the bag up there Guv i was amazed when i watched it happen !!

[themos]

My council was very helpful. They sent a man round, he had a look at it, I explained the problem, he went away.

Nothing's been done.

[richbyers]

About right, theyre useless anyways, its gonna have to go though, spoiling both my views of east and south

[cardconvict]

awesome i like that plan i'am going to do my whole street hahahahahahahaha

[kidlands]

My council came and taped/painted (cant get close enough to see what) the offending light in under a week from my complaint, I was gobsmacked .

Its a slight improvement but they said to give them a call if its not good enuff.......

[richbyers]

wow might have to give that a try.....

[Hypernova]

My local council has been very helpful in getting manchester housing to get a pair of annoying spotlights reorientated downwards, all sorted within weeks even after the housing association failed to come out once. But it seems that after I told them about the association's failure to show up, the council must've got back onto them to make them do it

[richbyers]

what do you say to them....be honest and say its ruining your hobby? i thought about saying it was shining into my window and keeping me up

[Beulah]

what do you say to them....be honest and say its ruining your hobby? i thought about saying it was shining into my window and keeping me up

It's more important to express the need to be able to sleep in darkness and any disturbances you experience with direct light pollution.

I'm not sure which local authorities are sympathetic when it comes to amateur astronomer's wishes, but possibly using the hobby angle would be akin to a biker complaining there's too many cars on the road...

You might be lucky though.

[Hypernova]

what do you say to them....be honest and say its ruining your hobby? i thought about saying it was shining into my window and keeping me up

I did actually say it was shining into my bedroom and ruining my sleep because it was, they are blumming bright, as well as disrupting my hobby.

This is what it used to look like before it was all sorted, you can see the amount of light scatter from those spotlights and how bright they were. They used to light up the entire backside of my house and peek over the top of my fence thus ruining my night vision.

[Euan]

what do you say to them....be honest and say its ruining your hobby? i thought about saying it was shining into my window and keeping me up

Being honest = little chance of a result

Lying and saying it's disturbing your sleep and making you stressed = win

I chose the first option, it was a waste of time

[Leegsi]

If light is shining on your property and you don't want it there they HAVE to do something about it by law as its light pollution.

Its the same law for noisy neighbours as polluting light.

[richbyers]

ok cool guys, ill give the sleep thing a try then