Frustrated Beaconsfield residents have been kept awake at night after new, brighter street lamps were installed in the town.

Families living in Shepherds Lane have been forced to buy blackout curtains in a desperate bid to get some sleep, after brighter LED lights were installed – shining into their bedrooms.

Transport for Bucks (TfB) has been replacing street lights with the more environmentally friendly and longer lasting LED lamps as part of a major county-wide scheme.

Speaking at a meeting of the Beaconsfield Forum on February 4, town mayor, Anita Cranmer, said: “New lights have been put in, LED lights, and they are in lots of places in Beaconsfield.

“On the good side they last 10 years, that will be very good, so we are not going to get lights going out.

“On the bad side in Shepherds Lane it’s so bright it shines into the bedrooms of the occupants of the houses and they have had to buy blackout curtains, so good things happen but they do sometimes produce problems.”

The older lights – known as sodium lamps – have been in use since the 60s, however the running costs are high and light quality poor compared to LED technology.

Transport for Bucks said residents experiencing “unwanted light intrusion” from new lamps can report the issue online at Fix My Street.

Head of Highways at TfB, Mark Averill, said: “Prior to beginning the installation of the LED lanterns, that have been fitted to replace the soon to be unavailable orange SOX lanterns, a lighting design was carried out for each road to determine the correct level of lighting required to meet the relevant standards.

“Once this was established, the correct lantern for each column was selected to ensure that the correct light distribution and level was achieved.

“Dimming is already employed at times when the category of lighting can be reduced but no further dimming can be carried out, as this would result in the light levels not being compliant with the standards.

“Where residents feel that there is unwanted light intrusion, it can be arranged for shields to be installed as required. Requests of this nature can be registered through our online reporting tool, Fix My Street.”

https://www.fixmystreet.buckscc.gov.uk/