MY COUNCIL IS NOT SO DIM

The villagers here tend to always have a torch with them and a lot more of them now have the LED torch headbands. The other week I saw a man walking his dog late at night and the dog also wore a torch headband!!!

 

Its one of the things that annoys me about this country - we need to save a few bob, so lets just cut something. Why?

Why not see if there is a different or better way of doing something?

Surely the fact that streetlights were installed suggests that they are required and should be there for the hours of darkness?

One change I think should happen - EVERY external light, be it privately or publicly owned should be fitted with a light sensor and if that light sensor detects daylight, then the light should not be able to be switched on (barring a service mode for a short time); the number of lights you see burning during the day is quite remarkable.

 

Well, the problem is.FC, that a lot of the street lighting was erected under regulations that are now out dated, the road or street circumstances might have changed, as well as the thinking of the General Public who've been made more aware of the environmental damage and energy wastage that can occur.
I can't say, though, that I'm in favour of every Street light being switched off after a certain time as certain area might need some sort of lighting. But while the the increase in size of Villages, Towns, and Cities has happened over the decades no real planning has gone into the placing of Street Lighting or the design of the Lamps with the consequential unneeded vast spillage of orange light into the atmosphere and areas where it was not meant to go.
There's many a unhappy rate payer out there that having to suffer the unwanted light into their bedrooms because of of an ill thought out placing of a lamp in front of their House.
The seemingly general Local Authority thinking of either contemplating the switching off of Street Lamps or actually doing it is, obviously, motivated by the need to cut their energy costs [which will never lead to a lowering in Rates or keeping them at the same level. But I think it needs a more broader and aware approach that takes into account the long term rather than a short term, knee jerk reaction. If LED lighting is going to take the place of Sodium Vapour lighting for the saving of monies and energy then we should take the opportunity to give more thought to the placing of the new Street Lamps and the design to minimise light pollution. I think it's pretty obvious that when Street Lighting was placed around Villages, Towns and Cities no thought was given to the strategic placing of them or the long term future and that needs to be amended.

 

Oh, I agree that many of the lights are/were placed without due consideration, and wholeheartedly agree that switching to LED lighting is also an opportunity to resolve that (although LED clearly goes a long way to resolving that just as a legacy of the change), what I cannot understand is the almost Maverick attitude that has been exercised by some local authorities in simply switching the lights off in the name of saving money.

More annoying than that, is the council premises that invariably stay illuminated 24/7, whether occupied or not. My daughter's school is a prime example - lit up like a Christmas tree at all times of the day or night, even when locked up and empty. If its for security, then why don't they have IR CCTV which is more than commonplace nowadays, backed up with suitable perimeter alarms?

The other problem I personally have is the variance in standards - - I travel on roads controlled by four different authorities every day, and each authority has a different standard as to what is acceptable and what isn't in terms of street lighting, drains maintenance, pavement condition, road condition etc. Why? I pay my income tax to the UK government. I vote for the UK government; so why is it that in a 10 mile journey I have to be subjected to variable standards that seem to be decided on a fairly random basis?

ALL street lights in the UK should be converted to LED, and in the process their effectiveness, positioning, pollution effects and whether they are actually needed should be fully assessed and acted upon. And whilst we are at it, the power generating companies should be forced to supply the electricity required to run ALL of the UK's street light at cost - and if they don't like it, tough-titty.

 

I can understand your frustration of seemingly unneeded lighting, FC. However, in my work experience I have no real faith in CCTV for security as usually when funded by Local Authorities it is of poor recording quality whereby no real evidence is acquired. I have seen tapes from the inner City of Manchester, Chester, Birmingham and a few others where criminals have stood in front of a CCTV camera and waved to it......while wearing a Ski Mask. One Client of mine [a large Sweet factory near Blackpool] asked for me to assess his factory for organisation and also security. While I was visiting him he complained that a certain CCTV camera was always being targeted by Burglars and had been stolen several times after he kept replacing it. When he took me to the area where the camera was it was quite obvious why it was being stolen. It was on a factory outside wall running along a Street and was, at best, 6 feet off the ground.....I kid you not!!

 

Crazy isn't it? You have to wonder who installed it, and who thought it would be a good idea? Even so, if lights are the deterrent, then surely make them PIR activated? It works just fine for my front porch (LED, of course :snork light. I see no point at all in illuminating a 2 acre site when there is not a soul anywhere near it.

 

Again, I agree with you. Some Police Forces argue that Security Lighting is helpful........to the Burglars as they can see what they're doing. But a IR driven Lighting System is much more sensible regarding energy. Having said that it is a Human failing that we like to see a visible system rather than an automated one which requires a certain leap of faith that the system will actually work.
So called "monitored" alarm systems are only useful to a certain extent because after 3 spurious activations [and you'd be surprised how many there can be during a year] and the Police have been called that Alarm systems is placed on a "secondary list" whereby the Police will basically place it on low priority.

 

Changing from Sodium (or any other historical lighting) to LED is not so expensive to the local authority but resiteing the lampposts is prohibitive.

The authorities have a logistical problem with changing to LED as they don't actually supply the electricity to their lampposts. This is supplied by the power companies and the authorities have to keep a register of how many lamps they have and how often they are on or working and supply the figures to a national body. They are then charged a pro rata charge. How this would apply whilst changing over to LED or partial LED I have no idea.

If you have an inkjet printer then you should try never to turn it off. Research has shown that you use 30% - 50% more ink if you turn it off every night. Each time an inkjet is switched back on it does an automatic head clean!

 

I was thinking that they would reuse the Street Lamps when changing from Sodium Vapour to LED, but for some reason our Local Council has put LED street lamps on the main road going through the Town but put new posts in while leaving the old posts in situ....I can't see why or what the problem would have been that they couldn't use the old posts

Well, printer ink ain't cheap for sure but I think I'd rather go to bed at night/early morning knowing that every none essential electrical item was switched off at the socket. I think the only things still powered up are the Fridge/Freezer and the IR light at the front of the House when I start sleeping the sleep of the "innocent"

 

Maybe that's the reason I don't sleep!