Light Pollution | Excessive lighting, Dalefield Rd, Normanton

201

Richard Wakefield

2008

Excessive lighting, Dalefield Rd, Normanton

Message sent to Environmental Health Department:

We have a large development that has been erected very close behind our property. It is a large block of flats built so that it rings our property. The building has been built very high above the natural ground level so that the ground floor can be seen above our 6 foot boundary fence.

Lights have been added to the ground floor all the way around the outside of the building. These lights are being left on constantly throughout the hours of darkness and are so bright that they flood light the development and are disrupting our lives. They shine around our bedroom curtains so we are unable to sleep, and can be seen from our living room when we are sitting down - over the top of a 6 foot boundary fence and via our conservatory.

We believe that this is a severe case of light pollution. Is there anything you can do to make the builders (SYHA, in conjunction with WMDC) turn off these lights or at least reposition them so that they shine into their property instead of into ours?

See also picture #202.

Picture Added on 13 November 2008.

Comments

This is just adding insult to injury. The development is outside all guidelines anyway and a massive blight on the neighbourhood. To then provide a constant reminder of its presence all through the night is bordering on evil. The first residents are not due for arrival until February 2009, yet the current lighting can only be compared to a floodlit football pitch. Why can't somebody apply some common sense and get these removed?
Added by Richard Hildyard on 13 November 2008.

I believe that these lights are described by the builders as 'only 42w'. However, these are probably CFL bulbs (compact fluorescent), so it's the lumen output not the wattage that is important in this situation. 42w CFL lamps produce approximately the same light as 'traditional' 200w bulbs, so the four lamps in the photo are wasting the equivalent of 800 watts of lighting energy.

As to the 'secure by design' scheme they are trying to comply with for marketing purposes, this does not absolve them from a legal responsibility to cease avoidable light pollution, nor stop light trespass into neighbours properties.

Added by Colin (Editor) on 15 November 2008.