Council Accused of Misrepresentation
Dear Sir,
The new “Improved” Street lighting has been causing a bit of a stir since the installation in November 2013 with numerous letters and comments in the following months.
I received my copy of Durham County News and found myself chuckling at an article on page 22 headed by the caption “Street lights given a brighter life”.
The lights installed wherever the photographs were taken are absolutely fabulous, not only are they as they state “a brighter, whiter light with more colours visible” but according to the old and new photographs they are also capable of lightening the sky and changing it from virtually pitch black to a deep orange fading to sunlight on the right hand side.
If this is truly possible can we please have the same lights in Aycliffe instead of the new improved lights that I feel are not adequate at lighting the roadway or footpaths?
I would very much like to hear the comments of Durham C.C. with this obvious misrepresentation of the actual light quality attained.
I totally understand and agree with the reasoning behind the new lighting and stand by the council and their decision, but there must be a better option available to obtain satisfactory coverage.
In addition, as a concerned resident, I personally feel that the current inadequate lighting seems to be assisting with crime in the area.
Recently there was a spate of car thefts and thankfully the culprit was caught after the police reviewed CCTV footage (from one of my neighbours who installed CCTV due to the rise in crime) and a keen-eyed officer recognised the culprit by his silhouette.
Only a few weeks ago a car pulled into the estate and was seen on CCTV (again, turning round in a cul-de-sac and braking outside a house as it left the field of vision, nothing unusual about that except it was approximately 3am in the morning.
When the owner of the property went outside the following morning, various heavy items had been stolen from the front of his property. When the CCTV footage was viewed, all that could be seen was a dark silhouette of a vehicle and a set of brake lights. NOTHING ELSE was distinguishable.
With the old lighting quality, one would have been able to recognise the make, colour and probably the registration of the vehicle as it turned round, therefore helping the police with a useful lead, alas this was not possible.
We cannot be the only area in Newton Aycliffe that has seen such negative results with these new lights, but it seems that our voice is not loud enough to be heard within DCC and, therefore, are we to suffer reduced night time safety and an increase in crime for the foreseeable future?
Brian Winwood
