..to help implement this new patrols are to be introduced.
Uniform will be a white helmet with A.R.P. letters painted on.
"oi, put that light out" will be the offical warning a source from the Ministry Of Darkness quoted this morning.
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Re ARO: we've had to fit black-out curtains to keep the light level down enough to sleep at night, thanks to inconsiderate neighbours. Security lighting could be shrouded, without it giving a useless, wasted spread in every direction. On a motoring note, one light shines directly up our drive, so reversing in is a pain. Now we'll be able to do something about the neighborhood "watch tower" lights.
BTW, they only help burglars to find their way around. Its no real deterrent.
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Agreed. Near us on a sharp S bend a house owner has installed high intensity lights which shine directly into drivers eyes as they reach the bend.
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One of these spontaneous traffic calming measures peoiple keep coming up with. Nothing calmer than an inverted vehicle with a dead driver.
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I thoroughly approve of this legislation. I am sure that Stargazer will too. Like most other offences that can be criminal offences, I have no doubt that this will be dealt with by a friendly letter from the Council, with threats of prosecution only coming after long periods of infringement.
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The very low cost of 500W+ outdoor halogen lights mean that there are a lot of inconsiderate people who festoon their property with them - in the belief it deters burglars. If you go into a linen shop these days they all seem to be selling 'blackout curtains' (dense lining curtains) which probably means its a widespread problem.
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I thoroughly approve of this legislation. I am sure that Stargazer will too. Like most other offences that can be criminal offences, I have no doubt that this will be dealt with by a friendly letter from the Council, with threats of prosecution only coming after long periods of infringement.
Mapmaker, totally agree!
About time too....Most of my observing is at overseas observatories with very strict light pollution control, however I also do a lot of public understanding of science and it is amazing the number of school kids who have never really noticed the moon (hence lunacy?) let alone the planets or stars! I also run open nights for schools at a small telescope and have no problem with properly controlled lighting even in the centre of Oxford, but one badly placed floodlight can wreck everything.
On a motoring note, many of the villages around me do not have streetlights (by choice) but some individuals have multiple 500W lights directly illuminating oncoming vehicles...accidents have been reported to the police caused by these lights. The shadows caused by such lights enable easy unobserved access to the houses in question.
Some local sports centres have floodlit all weather pitches and one of them is fine, on a misty night you can see that the beam of light is properly shielded and directed at the pitch with no overspill, one however (Chipping Norton) has one light in a bank with is bright enough to dazzle car drivers approaching down a B road from several miles away and another that is aimed directly down the access road so you are blinded when turning into the sports centre....just when youneed to see pedestrians! Letter have been written to the centre management with no effect so far.
Sorry to disagree with you HJ
StarGazer
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My question is how has it been allowed to get so bad. The chief cause of light pollution is badly designed street lighting, most of which has been brought in for a safety reason. According to HJ's original post much of which is now going to be changed at vast expense.
I can see the sense of having some regulation of badly sighted lighting on private property affecting others, but this is only a very small fraction of total light pollution.
Surely in this context we should also consider car headlights, especially high beam) as light pollution. Car lights are brighter today than they used to be and are also more likely to dazzle another driver, let alone the night sky.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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South Tyneside Council is leading the country with 'Light-It' a £63m brighter, clearer white light (known as Cosmopolis) PFI scheme. All lighting columns more than 10 years old will be replaced with new columns and modern white lighting (18,500 columns out of 23,600 in the borough). Contact: David Crosby: 0191 424 7381
I can remember when all the old white lamps were replaced with yellow.
Saying that, I hope they scrap the lot. I loate the horrible blacky/orange colour the sky is now.
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>> South Tyneside Council is leading the country with 'Light-It' a £63m brighter, clearer white light (known as Cosmopolis) PFI scheme. All lighting columns more than 10 years old will be replaced with new columns and modern white lighting (18,500 columns out of 23,600 in the borough). >> >> Contact: David Crosby: 0191 424 7381 I can remember when all the old white lamps were replaced with yellow. Saying that, I hope they scrap the lot. I loate the horrible blacky/orange colour the sky is now.
Someone somewhere is having a laugh: that's £3400 per column. Mare's rough guide to building costs reckons about £1500 for a brand new streetlamp on a brand new road.
I'll do it for £62 million guv....
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The £63m figure quoted is the total value of the PFI, not the element of it that refers to this specific type of lighting replacement.
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the wanders of the universe.
I'd always thought things moved within it in quite an organised way...
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Of course, if these people were serious, all flood lighting of public buildings would stop. So no lights on Edinburgh Castle or Buck House, or the Hs of Parliament etc.
But I forget these regulations don't apply to our rulers- elected or otherwise.
madf
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Of course, if these people were serious, all flood lighting of public buildings would stop. So no lights on Edinburgh Castle or Buck House, or the Hs of Parliament etc. But I forget these regulations don't apply to our rulers- elected or otherwise. madf
Not at all, properly designed lighting (flood from the top down rather than upwards with a large overspill into the sky) is more effective, costs less to run and doesnt cause light pollution.
For security lighting a couple of well placed 60W lamps can be more effective that a single 500W flood....better illumination, lower running costs, fewer shadows, less dazzle.
When I was working at a large observatory in Australia, we had a problem with one of the floodlights used to illuminate a rugby pitch at night. The floodlights were twice as powerful as they needed to be, were poorly mounted on badly designed posts with inadequate shielding and not all directed downwards.
When in use the floodlights cast a shadow on the outside of the telescope dome at a distance of 30km! We brought the town council to visit on a clear night and demonstated this to them, we then paid for a lighting engineer to assess the installation and make recomendations....he cut the illumination requirements by a factor of 2, improved the lightlevels at pitch level, reduced running costs and all by altering the angle of lighting, increasing the height of the poles and turning off alternate lamps.
There is far too much poorly designed lighting around, if we can reduce light pollution but increase light levels where they are required and reduce glare then road safety will be improved.
StarGazer
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My beef is with the waste of energy and money - lights left on all night at Kingsmead House and the Odd Down park and ride that i know of in Bath.
We are guilty of leaving the loo light on, for the kids you understand....
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I've noticed some new street lights are less orange and more bright than the old ones,must be a new type.Re security lights I do not understsnd why,having installed the thing,someone then decides to aim it down the street instead of onto their own property,I can think of quite a few 'blinders'.Now,where is my air rifle?
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Try moving to Stockport. The councils latest money saving wheeze is to turn off every other streetlight between 12:30am and 6:30am! Of course, they will no doubt have to pay someone to turn them off.
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It seems like a good idea to me, and I'd guess you don't get 20 years for a first offence.
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and when there is an upsurge in burglary (criminal offence but community service orders if you are violent), we'll complain about inadequate street lighting/we need more security light.
"Sorry sir , all our police men/women are out arresting light offenders"...
madf
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"Sorry sir , all our police men/women are out arresting light offenders"...
At least they can carry them back to the station.
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