Poor street lighting makes BBCtv
The rather poor street lighting PFI scheme Hounslow managed to get conned into has now made BBC news.It's not really a surprise, the whole deal is a monumental cock up which makes one wonder just why again and again, councils get duped into such spiv like deals.The LED is a big advance in public lighting but so much is still untried and untested technology. To the point that many authorities are sitting it out until it is tried and tested.It is still at a point where trials are taking place and designs fine tuned.Not this one though. LBH have dived into to a contract which is being regarded in the industry as 'naive and careless'.It is being done with very poor design standards, with no consultation and as we have seen in Boston Manor road, no regard for aesthetics or specially designed street furniture designed and paid for not by LBH but by GSK as part of section 106 to improve the environs of Brentford and Boston Manor.The lack of quality design and planning means lighting is placed without regard to obstructions like trees and buildings.The LED lantern is so basic that it cannot be positioned without directing light into windows and casts hard shadows which compromises street safety.To hear the guff from a Cllr Ellar and some other chap about quality and care at last months farce of a forum meeting, one wonders how they have not been fleeced of all their clothes. They are that gullible.Most of Hounslow's street lighting is quite young and way off it's life expectancy. It was a PFI that simply was not needed. As for light pollution, well 80% of the boroughs light polluting sodium lighting was replaced already. One of the first boroughs to do so 25 years ago .Thanks to the chap at the meeting who explained all this in such detail to me a few weeks back.
Anthony Waller ● 4320d9 Comments