Station Rd street lighting proves that it pays to complain

A resident complained about the dark patches between lights in the wet along Station Road, Yate. Result! there's a simple fix. South Glos engineers have visited the location and reckon the area would benefit from an increased lighting level.

They have re-assessed the design calculations and can increase the light output with a simple LED board change (60 to 72 LEDs). The change is in hand.

Clocks and street lights

You've probably had enough reminders to put your clocks back an hour at 2 am on Sunday. But what will our street lights do? When will they go off? You may remember all the fuss when faulty photocells meant that street lights went off much too early for a couple of weeks.

Crews from the council’s StreetCare team have been replacing thousands of faulty photocells on South Gloucestershire’s streetlights - they were still doing parts of South Yate today (24 October)

The faulty units have been replaced by the manufacturer at no charge to the council and by this autumn’s hour change, more than 9,000 replacement photocells in mainly urban areas will have been installed. A final 3,000 units, in mainly rural areas, will be replaced by the end of November - they haven't srrived from the manufacturer yet.

In areas where the replacement photocells are being installed after 26 October, existing street lights will continue to switch off an hour earlier than intended, at approximately 1045pm. This is expected to begin on 20 October and will last for about two weeks, before units come back into line with GMT or are replaced as part of the ongoing works.

As well as resolving the hour change issue the replacement units have also been adjusted to operate to the council’s revised part-night lighting regime of 1am to 5am, providing an extra hour of light each night.

Part-night lighting was adopted by the council as part of measures to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions through South Gloucestershire. Approximately two-thirds of the district’s 30,000 street lights have been switched to part-night operation.

Charfield leads the way on street lights

LED street lights are to be installed in Charfield this month as the first stage of a South Glos-wide roll out of the new technology.

Nearly 300 new lights are being installed in Charfield during January, reducing the parish’s street lighting costs from £11,000 to £3,500 per year and cutting related carbon emissions from 45 to 10 tonnes. Over the next decade, the new technology will be gradually installed in all of South Gloucestershire’s 30,000 street lights from May 2014, as part of a rolling investment programme.

Local councillor John O'Neill said, "Charfield has led the way with part night lighting and now with the new LED lighting technology. This will make for long term savings on our carbon reduction target and the South Gloucestershire Council budget which will benefit all Council Tax payers."

Trials of various patterns of new lighting - e.g. dimming - are taking place in other areas, as well as the overnight switch-off of conventional lights.

Shire Way and Heron Way won't be left in the dark

After comments from local councillors, South Glos has decided to keep the lights on all night on these roads.

Shire Way will not be converted to part night street lighting because of the pedestrian crossing and traffic calming features - it would be dangerous.

The whole of Heron Way will be kept lit overnight to avoid confusing motorists by lighting going on-off. The subways will also be lit throughout the night.

South Glos consultation on switching Yate street lights off after midnight

During 2013 the council is extending its ‘part-night’ lighting scheme throughout South Gloucestershire. A fifth of South Glos street lights successfully converted to part-night operation so that they are switched off between midnight and 5:00 am GMT in order to reduce carbon emissions and conserve energy.

There is a rolling programme to convert the lights - Yate will be converted during August, and other local areas are also being converted. All street lights will be switched to part-night operation except:

• Places where South Glos consider they help mitigate crime and anti-social behaviour, or improve road safety and reduce accidents
• Lights that are important for the operation of council or police CCTV surveillance cameras
• Lights that are close to 24-hour emergency services such as hospitals
• Lights next to pedestrian crossings and controlled junctions
• Lights next to sheltered housing premises

Lights that meet these criteria will stay on throughout the night.

To see maps of the areas where lights will remain on or be switched off, and to comment on the proposals, please visit this South Glos web page and clcik through to view the plans:
Yate street lighting

South Glos are asking for comments on specific lights that should not be switched off because they fall into the categories above. They are NOT inviting comments on the council's part-night lighting policy overall - the decision to move has already been taken to move to part-night street lighting.

The comments period will run until 15th July.

Dodington in the Dark? Street light switch off - proposals for Dodington Parish

As we previously reported, during 2013 South Glos Council will be extending its ‘part-night’ lighting scheme throughout South Gloucestershire. During July 2013 streetlights in Dodington Parish are programmed to be converted to switch off during the early hours of the morning.

You can view the detailed plans and associated information online. Print copies will also be available to view in Yate One Stop Shop and Yate library. You can also find out more online about part night lighting more generally, including the criteria for which lights are left on. If you have concerns that some of the criteria have not been applied correctly, you have until 12th June to make comments.

Part-night street lighting consultation - Old Sodbury

As explained in our previous post, South Glos Council is consulting about which street lights will be switched off after midnight.

The consultation and plan for the Old Sodbury area - including The Bell to the Cross Hands - is available here: Old Sodbury consultation

Lights in this area will be switched off in April unless certain criteria apply.

South Glos consultation on switching street lights off after midnight

During 2013 the council will be extending its ‘part-night’ lighting scheme throughout South Gloucestershire. A fifth of South Glos street lights successfully converted to part-night operation so that they are switched off between midnight and 5:00 am GMT in order to reduce carbon emissions and conserve energy.

There is a rolling programme to convert the lights - Chipping Sodbury and Westerleigh will be converted during March, and other areas will follow. All street lights will be switched to part-night operation except:

• Places where South Glos consider they help mitigate crime and anti-social behaviour, or improve road safety and reduce accidents
• Lights that are important for the operation of council or police CCTV surveillance cameras
• Lights that are close to 24-hour emergency services such as hospitals
• Lights next to pedestrian crossings and controlled junctions
• Lights next to sheltered housing premises

Lights that meet these criteria will stay on throughout the night.

To see maps of the areas where lights will remain on or be switched off, and to comment on the proposals, please visit these South Glos web pages:
Chipping Sodbury
Westerleigh

South Glos are asking for comments on specific lights that should not be switched off because they fall into the categories above. They are NOT inviting comments on the council's part-night lighting policy overall - the decision to move has already been taken to move to part-night street lighting.

We'll let you know about the Yate and Dodington parish consultations when they come out.

Street light switch-off?

Street lighting costs South Glos £1.1 million a year, and that is predicted to rise to £1.6m by Oct 2009. South Glos is now thinking of switching off some of the lights. for a number of hours
at night, possibly between midnight and 5.30am, to achieve a 40 per cent cut in energy costs and carbon emissions.

The Council has promised that areas such as sheltered housing and accommodation for vulnerable people, hospitals, areas with CCTV surveillance equipment, pedestrian crossings, subways, enclosed footpaths and alleyways, roundabouts, approaches to major junctions and speed humps will still be lit.

This is good for the environment, and our pockets, but what do you think about the idea in safety terms? Please tell us, so we can make sure YOUR views are heard before a decision is taken.