Well, the council, in their wisdom, decided that we needed a new roundabout in the estate, three of these roads lead to cul de sacs, so I don't know why. Anyway, at the crossroads there are two lights already, now that the roundabout has been constructed they have decided that it is not bright enough, so another two have been added, all four corners now have lights.

Now, this is not a dimly lit area, far from it, and the distance from the roundabout to the main road is only about 20 metres with two street lights on that 20 metre stretch. They have also added those orange reflective arrows on the roundabout telling you what way to turn, like we don't know what way to go around a roundabout.

I just don't understand the need for four lights and reflective arrows for a small roundabout, the diameter is only about 5 metres, the area is already adequately lit and this is simply overkill.

In the back garden this is not intrusive as houses block it out, but if I move into the front garden there they are, to the north.

I have been reading on an English forum that many councils over there are now turning their srteetlights off after midnight for 5 hours so save on funds, what's the odds of that happening over here?

Where are all the f***ing Green councillors and why are they not putting a stop to this? Oh, that's right, I forgot, they got their asses kicked in the last council elections and are as rare now as hen's teeth.

Sorry for the rant But it gets so frustrating at times.

Paul

It would be interesting to do the economics on street lights, especially now the country is flat broke.
I have the St Kilda AFL training ground at the back of my house so there is usually a few megawatts of floodlight left on at night. I only use the garden to look at the moon and planets. For photography its pack up the car and drive for 50 minutes. A really dark sky site is 3 hours away-but they are very dark.

I have a GAA ground a couple of hundred metres away and they have flood lights too. In fact sometimes when I am setting up my scope in the back garden on a winter's night they turn them on. The first time they did it I froze and put my hands up:dry:

They are usually switched off at 9,30 John, maybe you could approach the club and ask them if they could switch their remaining lights off when they finish training?

Paul, the economics may one day dictate that street lights are switched of for a time overnight - but as Ireland is gripped by the Jesus and GAA mentality, and we are about 30 years behind the rest of northern Europe with regard to environmental matters -it may be some time before their is a change.


Declan

dmolloy wrote:

They are usually switched off at 9,30 John, maybe you could approach the club and ask them if they could switch their remaining lights off when they finish training?

.

Declan

Unfortunately, asking the St Kilda AFL club to turn down the lights would be like asking Manchester United to turn off the power at Old Trafford . Not going to happen I'm afraid. AFL is like a religion here but that is life in a big city.

ha, you think thats bad, I've Thomond park (~26000 seater stadium) 400 yards away on one side of me, and the Gaelic grounds (55000 seater stadium)about 600 yeards away in the opposite direction.
But, since they are so big, they tend to turn off the lights as soon as they're finished the matches as they cost an absolute fortune to run, so been near big stadiums has worked out not so bad...

Paul, as for your issue, maybe you could approach them and say they're causing people in the house to stay awake and you want light shields around them ???

Dave Lillis wrote:

Paul, as for your issue, maybe you could approach them and say theyre causing people in the house to stay awake and you want light shields around them ???

They don't interfere with the house Dave, I already have a streetlight right outside the front door, but it is just too low to shine in the bedroom windows, another metre higher and I would have a case.

Paul

Paul's "rant" was a useful reminder of this thorny problem. I wonder how aware our local authorities are of the light pollution issue? I guess that the engineers are well aware both of the technical and the cost issues. If that is the case what is driving the apparently relentless increase in lighting? Is it resident's associations and other local pressure groups campaigning on grounds of improving road safety and reducing anti-social/criminal activity? Local representatives are extremely sensitive to such pressures, but perhaps we should think about ways of making them more aware of the case against light pollution, i.e. the case for careful planning of lighting.

I know almost nothing about this topic, but I see that there is an Irish organisation, The Irish Light Pollution Awareness Campaign (ILPAC), devoted to it. They seem to have produced some excellent material, and deserve our support. As a first step, I will join this organisation, and educate myself so that I can help in the campaign to influence the local authorities.

As regards sports clubs, generally speaking they are supported by fund raising in the community, so they are very cost conscious and will be receptive to our message. My local GAA club built a new floodlit all-weather facility recently and used the best lighting systems available to minimise stray light.

Mike