Agenda item

The Council welcomes engagement from members of the public. To speak at this meeting please register no later than 24 hours prior to the date of the meeting via democracy@southkesteven.gov.uk

Anne Gayfer – question in relation to agenda item 7:

“The paper says that household with a 240l silver bin will be issued with a 240l purple lidded bin.  What about those who have a 120l bin?”

Response provided via email by the Assistant Director of Operations and Public Protection:

The Council had less than 30 households with 140l wheeled bins which could be purchased as part of an initiative a number of years ago and these have not been available for some time. The 240 litre purple lidded bin is the standard size for the scheme across Lincolnshire, where residents have difficulties manoeuvring bins to the kerbside for health reasons they can request an assisted collection from an agreed location. If there are genuine concerns about space, households will be able to discuss their specific circumstances with the team.

Anne Gayfer – question in relation to agenda item 9:

“It is recognised that blue-rich white light (BRWL) at night is harmful to human health and ecology, due to human and wildlife circadian disruption. Furthermore, it is detrimental to road safety and contributes to undesirable sky glow, due to excessive glare caused by the so-called “Rayleigh Scattering Effect”. Finally, there is a considerable negative aesthetic impact, particularly in areas with heritage lighting. Based on the growing body of scientific research which shows that BRWL is harmful, emissions of short wavelength, blue-rich light should be minimised in all outdoor lighting applications.

Given that with soaring temperatures and associated disruption to weather patterns, the crisis in nature has become even more apparent over the last 2 years, it would be a shame to miss the opportunity to instal lighting that is both safe, economic and nature friendly.  Has the council looked at alternatives such as “Warm White” specification, with a Correlated Colour Temperature of less than 3000K?”.

Response provided via email by The Sustainability and Climate Change Officer:

Considerations for temperature of LED lighting:

-          Very early installations of LED streetlamps were associated with blue spectrum light.

-          Modern LED streetlights tend towards a colour temperature of 4000k, which is a neutral white and avoids the impacts associated with higher colour temperature light.

-          The light scattering effect is reduced with LED installations, due to lower light intensity and that lamps are pre-programmed to dim between midnight and 6AM.

Considerations for bat friendly lighting:

-          Certain spectrums of light have potential to interfere with the natural behaviour of insects and certain species of bats who feed upon them. Location of lamps is an important consideration.

-          A trial of bat friendly streetlights was implemented on one main road in Worcestershire adjacent to a nature reserve. These lights are in the amber and red spectrum and are believed to interfere less with wildlife. Worcestershire County Council announced plans to introduce more bat friendly lighting in select areas as part of their ongoing programme to upgrade lights to LED: More bat lights for Worcestershire as LED streetlight plans rolled out | Worcestershire County Council To date, Worcestershire County Council are the only local authority to implement specific lighting in one specific location.

-          It is noted that turning off the lamps during the night (a policy that some authorities have implemented) also allow the bats to resume natural feeding behaviour.