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Need advice on complaining to Council over light: what are my rights?

Hope

 

On another thread, I started a discussion called 'light trespass'. The situation has still not been resolved, despite shields being fitted. I was told the lights would switch off at midnight - they did not; it was 1am when they were switched off. I go to bed at 11pm, at the latest, and can't get to sleep until the lights are switched off. I have black out blinds, curtains, and black out lining, but they don't work with these new super tall, fluorescent lights. I have complained by phone to the council, but got a shoddy response. I have written a letter to the Chief Executive of the Council, and wait her response, and I have written to my MP for an appointment.

What can I do in the meantime? I am suffering from sleep deprivation and stress; I can't block the light out, just like I can't block noise out. I think this is caused by my Aspergers, but it does not affect me quite so much in the day - perhaps because I can distract myself. I also have chronic anxiety, which is worse under stress.

Are they breaking the law with regard to indirect disability discrimination by not taking into account sensory disturbances? Why do we need lights on until 1am? What are 'normal' people doing at that time? It seems we have 24/7 noise, 24/7 light - an Orwellian nightmare, my room turned into a torture chamber.

The council have subcontracted their lighting to SSE contracting, and I don't know who is responsible for what!. A bureaucratic quagmire of faceless mandarins in a corrupt system.

I welcome your advice.

Parents

  • A parallel could be drawn with strip lighting, where the starter causes a frequency of flicker and also noise which affects many people on the spectrum. In some public facilities, as an acknowledgement to this problem, some areas are lit by lighting that doesn't cause this irritation, where people affected can work.

    However because the kind of strip lighting is fairly universal, the policy seems to be that people affected by them through disability have to put up with this, but may have the option of alternative environments.

    I'm not being unsympathetic; I'm prone to distress from complex noise and movement, which unfortunately covers a lot of NT preferred environments.

    But the council is more likely to respond that it is for you to take evasive action (for which you may be able to get help, or they assume you can). But is there a room you could sleep in that doesn't look onto the illuminated street, or are you stuck with that configuration?

    Subcontracted services are a real menace these days because it takes matters outside the democratic process. Also the daftest things go on. To save money pedestrian crossing lights have cheaper bulbs than those for traffic - so they fail more often, hence pedestrian lights with no red man symbol are common(what's the point of teaching kids the green cross code?).

    In some local authorities (like the one I've just moved from) they've introduced an economy measure of turning off half the streetlights, which means lots of dark areas and more crime, but lights are still ridiculously wasted on public spaces like car parks, unused overnight.

    What you've got is a costly improvement (probably one that wasn't thought through properly - there may have been more expensive options with better shields). Having made the cost committment they have to live with it or face budget cuts elsewhere (not that civic junketting, bonuses and severance deals get cut back anything like as sharply as support for the disabled and elderly). If it is subcontracted so much the harder as reversal entails breach of contract issues and compensations. The costs are probably astronomical.

    So I suspect the only resolution you can get is either relocation or some modification of your windows. It would be an individual redress rather than any change to the street lighting. People have to travel at night (shift workers for example) whether on foot or by car and need to see where they are going, and crime is higher on unlit or poorly lit streets. So there will be fierce opposition to turning them off at night.

Reply

  • A parallel could be drawn with strip lighting, where the starter causes a frequency of flicker and also noise which affects many people on the spectrum. In some public facilities, as an acknowledgement to this problem, some areas are lit by lighting that doesn't cause this irritation, where people affected can work.

    However because the kind of strip lighting is fairly universal, the policy seems to be that people affected by them through disability have to put up with this, but may have the option of alternative environments.

    I'm not being unsympathetic; I'm prone to distress from complex noise and movement, which unfortunately covers a lot of NT preferred environments.

    But the council is more likely to respond that it is for you to take evasive action (for which you may be able to get help, or they assume you can). But is there a room you could sleep in that doesn't look onto the illuminated street, or are you stuck with that configuration?

    Subcontracted services are a real menace these days because it takes matters outside the democratic process. Also the daftest things go on. To save money pedestrian crossing lights have cheaper bulbs than those for traffic - so they fail more often, hence pedestrian lights with no red man symbol are common(what's the point of teaching kids the green cross code?).

    In some local authorities (like the one I've just moved from) they've introduced an economy measure of turning off half the streetlights, which means lots of dark areas and more crime, but lights are still ridiculously wasted on public spaces like car parks, unused overnight.

    What you've got is a costly improvement (probably one that wasn't thought through properly - there may have been more expensive options with better shields). Having made the cost committment they have to live with it or face budget cuts elsewhere (not that civic junketting, bonuses and severance deals get cut back anything like as sharply as support for the disabled and elderly). If it is subcontracted so much the harder as reversal entails breach of contract issues and compensations. The costs are probably astronomical.

    So I suspect the only resolution you can get is either relocation or some modification of your windows. It would be an individual redress rather than any change to the street lighting. People have to travel at night (shift workers for example) whether on foot or by car and need to see where they are going, and crime is higher on unlit or poorly lit streets. So there will be fierce opposition to turning them off at night.

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