Switching streetlights off late at night, or not...

[MarkS]

One step closer to reality and with possible extension to Romney Marsh:
http://www.ahbs.org.uk/news/Ashford-moves-to-protect-its-rural-dark-skies

[Carole]

Lucky you Mark and it certainly won't do our DSCs much harm.

carole

[MarkS]

Awaiting final ratification on 10 July:
http://www.ashford.gov.uk/news/ashford-moves-to-protect-its-rural-dark-skies-27th-june-810/

[ApophisAstros]

found this locally at work think we`ve got a fight on our hands!!

roger

[Mike]

Yeah they've been running a campaign in our local paper to try and get them switched back on. All due to 1 or 2 paranoid idiots. One who had a break in after the lights went off. Like that is at all relevant.

Do they seriously think burglars can see in the dark or something? It is SAFER with the lights OFF.

Despite the fact that the majority of burglaries occur in broad daylight too!! Idiots.

[Rick]

Yeah, burglars need to see where they're going, too. If they have to use torches then they're much more likely to be spotted.

[ApophisAstros]

lets not give too much info to interested prospective burglars..................lol
roger

[Carole]

Bad news for the people in Kent:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-31143466

Carole

[Kenny]

Boooo!

And they are too  bright and not well directed.

[RobertM]

And white

[Mike]

Absolutely unbelievable.

[Fay]

why do the powers that bealways take notice of imbeciles!!!!

[MarkS]

The existing "switch off" policy has been a boon to many of us astronomers, allowing much better views of our night sky heritage after switch off. Unfortunately, as Kenny alludes to, many LED lights are poorly designed, with painfully intense, dazzling luminaires and a lot of light leakage both sideways and upwards due to poor design and installation.  Just take a walk along Crofton Road Orpington at night to see would the future could look like.

I plan to write to KCC expressing my great disappointment with the decision to return to all night lighting but also to encourage them to buy streetlamps with good directional properties and good shielding in accordance with policies exemplified in Ashford's excellent Supplementary Planning Document. Pressure needs to be applied now because once they have signed contracts with a street light supplier, it will be too late to prevent a new destructive tsunami of lighting.

For my part, I dread the long-term and widespread light pollution effects of whole towns switching to LED luminaires with their wideband spectrum.  By the time any nefarious effects begin to become apparent, it will be too late to stop.

Mark

[Rick]

Aye, if they're going to replace all the lights then it's definitely worth making them think about what sort of fittings they install, or they'll put up the kind of full-glare-specials Bromley have put up along Crofton Road and elsewhere of late.

[MarkS]

It looks like the usefulness of light pollution filters will shortly be coming to an end.  KCC is planning to rapidly convert all street lighting to LED i.e. broad spectrum lighting.  Light pollution filters are useless against broad spectrum lighting.

The only remaining question is whether they are left on permanently throughout the night or, after midnight, dimmed or switched off.  To my mind the other important issue is how well directed is the light cone to avoid too much light leakage outwards and upwards.  Also glare (e.g. for drivers and for pedestrians on footpaths) is a safety issue, unless they are well designed.

Until the end of November, you have a chance to make your views known, during their consultation exercise:
http://consultations.kent.gov.uk/consult.ti/streetlighting/consultationHome

I suppose it is a sign of the times that 6 or more of the 13 questions in the consultation document are related to gender, age, race, sexual orientation, religion and disability.

Mark