Lights off and on

SIR - Illuminating times or brighter Britain?

Have you noticed that the bridge under the M1 at Flamstead has had new street lighting installed? And that it is turned on all day? This lighting consists of a grand total of 368 high-powered yellow sodium lamps, arranged in two close packed rows tucked under both sides of the bridge to illuminate about 80 meters of carriageway.

That is more than 4.5 lamps per meter of road, or an average of one lamp every eight and a half inches!

If you walk under the bridge, it is like being in a yellow tanning booth, brighter than the average sunny day.

These days we are asked to reduce the amount of energy we use, so assuming that each of these lamps consume 250W, this makes a grand total of 92 kilowatts of energy being pumped into the atmosphere, 24 hours a day, this is more energy than a dozen pensioners would use in the winter!

This stretch of road could comfortably be illuminated at night by two or at the most four lamps, and during the day there is no need for any lighting.

Can I ask some questions? Who decided that so many lights were needed for this short stretch of road? Who is paying for the electricity for these lights? And how much does it cost? Can we get most of them permanently switched off, especially during the day when they are not needed? Can we have the saving made by switching off most of these lights, re-allocated to filling in some of the potholes in our roads?

MARTYN REID

Windmill Avenue

St Albans

SIR - I would like to thank your news team for their assistance in getting the lights back on in Thirlestane (Herts Advertiser, June 11).

Despite the comments from the council about things being sorted by Tuesday, June 9 the power was not restored in our block until Friday, June 12 and I believe it would not have been possible without your help, thank you.

BARBARA MORTIMER

Thirlestane

Lemsford Road

St Albans