Council quote

[Octane (Humayun)]

My dear wife got in touch with the local council to see if they could do anything about the street light alongside our home which throws light into both the backyard and our bedroom.

My main gripe, of course, is with the stray light in the backyard which bathes my makeshift observatory.

They've just got back with a quote for $170 to install a shield, which will block 80% of the light, and they've also given us locations of other shade installs that we can go and check out.

This is a pleasant surprise; I was expecting them to tell us to bugger off!

H

[MortonH]

Not a bad result!

[LewisM]

All the street lighting around us has the shields. They work, to an extent.

I have TRIED from the backyard, but the cast is still there. Looking from the 3rd level of our place in the still of the wee hours, you can see how much orange light still bathes. Quite bad really.

BUT, you may get better results.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Cheers, guys.

Lewis, we have white street lights here. I'm hoping that the shielding will take care of most of the light. I can live with a little bit.

H

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

H,
any chance of taking before and after photos (when the lights are on)?

that is a pleasant surprise - would be interesting to see effectiveness.

cheers,

russ

[big_dav_2001 (Davin)]

Great news!!

Even better is that it might also make a great precedent for others in here with simillar complaints (which would probably be most of us) to show their councils, kinda "See, it ISNT impossible to do"...

Grat work
Davin

[traveller (Bo)]

$170 is a good deal. Just make sure they seal the edges with dark silicone adhesive to minimise light "leakage".
Bo

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Well...that's a change from the usual streetlight horror stories, nice one H, hope it works well for you

Mike

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

That's a bit of a result H! $170 sounds like a bargain, hope it works as advertised.

Although I'm a bit surprised that Australia doesn't regard light pollution as a health risk, like in the UK...if you can prove it is shining directly into your bedroom (and they will have an inspector come out to check!), the councils there are obliged to put the shields on

[Octane (Humayun)]

Cheers, guys!

Russell, I'll do that, and, will update this thread. The only caveat is that it can take between 3 weeks and 3 months for the energy company to come out and do the work.

Dunk, that's very interesting. I wonder if the same rules apply here? In our case, it might be too late to address it as a health issue, but, I really don't mind paying $170 for a little bit more darkness.

H

[LewisM]

They do work. It is much better where we are now than previously where they were not shielded.

My issue is the elderly neighbour and her security light that she puts out at 11pm... I have asked nicely, but so far, no deal. Maybe it's on an automated circuit and she can't do anything.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Yeah getting them to do it willingly is much better than grudgingly, so $170 sounds like a bargain

[White Rabbit]

That's a great result. At the the moment I use large garden umbrellas to block the street lights. I tip It over on its side and it does a pretty good job.

Cheers

[Octane (Humayun)]

Sandy,

That's what we were going to do, but, the missus thought she might get in touch with council, anyway.

In the meantime, I have 2.4 metre polyboards that I use for photography reflectors/backgrounds that I might just prop up until the work is done.

I urge anyone with a similar issue to politely approach their local council and see what happens.

H

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

great news.
When they replaced the pole out front of my neighbours house, we asked the workers if they could do something about sheilding the light. You know, while they were up there.
The result was some black duct tape stuck to the light.
At night time the light shines right through it. LOLOL oh well.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Great success, jJjjJJJjjJ!

H