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Fighting for the dark side

BBC Sky at Night Magazine

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June 2023

Battles over a neighbour's floodlight led Stephen Kirkman to propose a new law

- Stephen Kirkman

Fighting for the dark side

In September 2020, I was pleased to move into my new home, but shortly after settling in I noticed the floodlight on a block of housing association flats next door. An earlier tenant there used to turn it off using the circuit breaker as a light switch. To my dismay, the circuit was switched back on and the whole of my back garden has been floodlit ever since, all night, every night, activated by a dusk-to-dawn light sensor. Night-sky observing is near impossible.

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