No to Street Lighting in the village
I have just read the village news on the possibility that street lighting is being considered for Swanton Abbott.
Please No!


One of the reasons I chose to move here was the absence of street lighting.
Where we lived before we had a street light right outside the house. Even when I switched by bedroom light out at night I could see all the furniture in the room. Here the only light that constantly floods my room all night is from the moon.
If Swanton Abbott had street lighting it would definitely affect the abundant wildlife we have around here. Hedgehogs, Bats and Owls all hunt in our back gardens in the comparative safety of the dark.


I am quite happy to walk my dog around the village in the dark. There is always just enough light from the houses in the village and along the quite lanes I utilize a torch. The people are friendly and I feel very safe walking about at night.
The thing I would  miss most of all if street lighting comes to Swanton Abbott, would be the wonderful view of the stars.


You can see the reflected glow of street lights over North Walsham, Alysham and Coltishall and occasionally the sports field at Scottow obliterates the sky with its floodlighting, but right over the top of Swanton Abbott the stars shine brightly and you can track the paths of planes, satellites, shooting stars and the moon as they cross our air space.


If the overall vote in the village is for the street lighting then I will be seriously looking at moving again. Swanton Abbott is not a town. It is in the countryside where the people, wildlife and environment live in harmony with one another.
I am also concerned about the cost a) to our pockets in council tax and b) to the environment in wasted resources, carbon emissions and damaging the delicate balance of flora and fauna. This is just not necessary. Folks who are scared of the dark should move back to the safe lighting of the town instead of turning quaint Norfolk villages into concrete suburbia.


 I hope my comments do not offend anyone. I love this place just the way it is.

 

Susanne Wolton
 

Yes to Street Lighting in the village.
I’m encouraged to see that Swanton Abbott is finally moving into the 21st century! Good street lighting helps create a better environment in which to live, work and play.  The increased safety, greater security and enhancement to the environment provided by modern street lighting help to achieve these objectives.  If the village adopted a well thought out lighting policy it could

  • Provide a safe highway network for all road users during the hours of darkness. Especially for pedestrians walking along the Aylsham Road and Long Common Lane

  • Minimise the environmental effect of street lighting whilst enhancing the night time ambience – you will no longer have to “feel” your way home if you forget your torch!

  • Ensure that public lighting is in keeping with and properly integrated into the infrastructure – “old fashioned” styled lamp-posts can look attractive and would be especially beneficial around the Jollies and Village Hall

  • Help reduce crime and fear of crime – important for the older folk who live in the village.
  • Provide a cost effective street lighting service by using modern, solar powered, eco-friendly lighting

Street lighting will be an all round good thing and the sooner the better. Perhaps next we can get a mobile phone signal ….


A concerned villager

No to Street Lights - Keep the Stars!

Having recently moved into the village from the "bright lights" of Norwich, I have been constantly amazed by the clarity of the stars out here.  For those of you who haven't done it for a while, take five minutes to just stand in your back garden and view the stars....listen to the wildlife and allow your eyes to adjust to the light of the moon.  Money can't buy this type of experience and I am really disheartened to see that the village is considering polluting this with artificial street lighting.

 
I agree that street lighting does deter crime and makes people feel safer, but in a community like ours it just doesn't seem to be neccessary at the moment - we don't have a problem with youths hanging around street corners and I don't think I've heard of any crime since moving here.  As Suzanne mentioned, by installing street lamps we will be creating wasted resource, spending money which could be better spent elsewhere and damaging what we all love...the fantastic variety of wildlife right here on our doorsteps.
 
Please, don't spoil Swanton Abbott's idillic charm and turn it into suburbia.  Let's enhance and improve it in other ways - personally, I feel that speed restrictions are a much more urgent need - especially along the Poplars and Long Common Lane.
 
Sam Howlett

 

No! - Avoid Light Pollution

No, No, No.  Any proposal for street lighting will be most vigorously opposed by my family.  We moved to the village to get away from street lighting.  It is only "townies" who have moved in recently that want it.  Why spoil the lovely night skyline with light pollution. If people can't see at night then I respectfully suggest they purchase a torch.

 

A strongly opposed villager

 

Why Street Lighting Is A Good Thing

There seems to be a lot of "emotional noise" about street lighting. Not only does street lighting work to deter crime via an increase in surveillance and deterrence, but it also benefits the community by providing better looking public spaces. Properly done lighting can make our streets more attractive - good lighting can transform a desolate and forbidding street into an inviting and comfortable one.

 

Advances in technology mean that details of buildings and trees can be picked out, and uplighters can light the pathway. This can be done without creating 'light pollution'. If you visit some of the UK's most attractive villages in the Cotswolds and Devon you will see how their evening ambience is improved by the use of sympatheticly positioned street lighting.

 

Instead of railing against this proposal the villagers should embrace it wholeheartedly. I certainly am and it will get my support for the Village Plan.

 

A street lighting enthusiast

 

Street Lighting - A Waste of Energy

I fully agree with Susanne Woltan's comments. Light pollution is a big problem in the UK and the energy wasted cannot be justified. If you're on foot at night take a torch!


Read what the Campaign to Protect Rural England has to say.
also see LightPollution.org.uk for more information on the detrimental effects of street lighting

 

Mark Page
 

We Need Less Not More Lighting

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I would just like to add to those comments made recently about lighting in Swanton Abbott.

 

Street lighting in any rural village is totally inappropriate. What I find disturbing is the number of people who still believe that street lighting reduces crime and increases security. The truth of the matter is that it doesn’t. Most crime occurs in daylight ergo criminals need light. Add street lighting and one will find it will encourage people to behave at night more as they would during the day. Consequently the rate of crime will go up. Those areas with the highest crime rates are also the most intensively illuminated. It has been seen that during power cuts criminality goes down almost to zero. This was demonstrated recently in Auckland, New Zealand, and I have experienced it myself in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where at least two power failures occur every night. If I was a resident of Swanton Abbot, I would definitely feel more secure under a blanket of darkness.

 

Lighting is also very damaging to the environment, being responsible for killing insects that lie near the base of the food chain. The decline of our common species of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals correlates inversely with the expansion of street and security lighting over the past fifty years. If we value our wildlife and rural areas then we need to campaign for a reduction in lighting, not an increase.

 

"If some people have a problem with darkness in an isolated rural village then maybe they’d be better off living in a city centre. Introducing lighting into a rural village will destroy the natural distinction that currently exists between town and country."

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Colin Henshaw.

 

 

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