Private off road lighting

[Barnaby]

Hi,

near me there is a site (car dealer/ forcourt/industrial type place) that has bright security lights. which stay on all the time at night.

this site is right next to an unlit narrow road and all this light is a big distraction to driving. your blinded by it so cannot see whats beyond from one direction, from the other it looks like a car is there waiting (quite a sharp bend about 40m away)..

is there a way of reporting this and to who??

suppose a quiet word might work but don't know how effective this would be.....

cheers
Barnaby

ps crews hole road in Bristol for those local.

[Big Err]

Up here such a hazard can be addressed by implementation of Section 93 of The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984. I suspect The Highways Act is the equivalent in England and Wales. This refers to a hazard affecting the public highway. If the roads in question are all private I'm not sure how you could approach it legally.

"93.—(1) If, in the opinion of the roads authority, anything which is on land beside or near to a road—
(a) but is not itself a building constitutes a danger to road users and there is no other provision of this Act under or by virtue of which they may take steps to obviate the danger, they shall, under this subsection, take such steps;"

I'd suggest you contact the local roads authority and ask for their opinion.

[Barnaby]

hi, thanks for that, will get on to local council.

the road is def public and pretty busy, the lights are fixed both to building and to fence/posts.

Cheers
Barnaby

[michael769]

Lighting of such nature is required to have planning consent.

If the authority was doing it's job properly, it should have added conditions to ensure that the lighting was installed in such a way as to avoid causeing a nuisence outside of the premises. If that is the case the the authority will have the option to use it's planning powers to force the landowners to switch them off until the installation is carried out correctly.

[Big Err]

Lighting of such nature is required to have planning consent.

I suspect in many cases security lighting is erected without any planning consent, even if required. It'll often take a member of the public to notify the authorities of a problem.