Street lights making sleep difficult- too bright

[Streetlightarebright]

Moved into new townhouse a few months ago. It’s in a quiet residential street. There is one streetlight in the whole street which is bang opposite my house. At night the street is lit up like a football stadium and despite having blackout blinds (custom made so fit the windows perfectly) it shines really brightly into my bedroom. Because it’s a townhouse and my bedroom is on the third floor it’s level with the streetlight so that doesn’t help.

I contacted the council and they replied saying they can put a shade on it but I’d have to pay £95 😲😲 their reason being the streetlight was changed over to these fancy LED lights in 2017 so I’m responsible for paying (we moved in about 6 months ago)

I’m quite annoyed that they expect me to pay. It’s disrupting my sleep and the light is excessively bright. Has anyone ever contacted their council & got them to put a shade in for free? I’m wondering if there are any good arguments I could use?

It really is disrupting my sleep even with the blackout blind ☹️

It would annoy me that I had to but sleep is worth so much more

Remind them of "Bonwick vs Brighton and Hove council"

If you were in Scotland then statutory nuisance law already applies (there is a one line difference in the applicable laws, added specifically to include streetlights and portable lighting rigs).

In England/Wales, the Bonwick case gives precedent to forcing the council to dealing with the nuisance (light trespass) AT THEIR EXPENSE and you would stand to reclaim court costs as well

The thing to emphasise in complaints is "light tresspass" and "nuisance light"

Watch how fast they offer to do it for free (if they don't, then make a court filing. They will settle before it goes in front of a judge because you will stand to gain compensation too)

(IANAL and this is not legal advice)

Do you know anyone with a BB gun or a Slingshot that could take out the bulb?

The council may charge you around £100 to put a shield on it.

It's easy to switch street lights off. You just get a key to fit the locking mechanism and remove the front panel. There's a handle inside that you pull down and that turns it off. The key was just a basic triangular fitting thing that dh already had in his tool box. I turned the light off outside our house. Once they came and turned it on again and I turned it straight off once they'd left. Councils don't have the money to keep checking these things so just crack on.