Light Nuisance
The City of Lincoln Council have a duty under Part 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to investigate and take action, where necessary, to deal with complaints of statutory nuisance. Section 79 of the above Act sets out what constitutes a statutory nuisance.
Certain types of artificial light, if improperly sited or used, could give rise to statutory nuisance. For the artificial light to count as a statutory nuisance, it must do one of the following:
- unreasonably and substantially interfere with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premises.
- injure health or be likely to injure health.
Many factors are considered in determining if the light issue reaches the threshold to be a statutory nuisance, including:
- Duration
- Frequency
- Impact - for example, material interference with use of property or personal well-being; actually, or likely to be adverse to health
- Local environment
- Motive - for example the reasonableness of the behaviour of the subject
- Sensitivity of the complainant – statutory nuisance relies on the concept of the average person and is not designed to take account of unusual sensitivities.
There are exemptions to this legislation; the following sources of artificial light cannot be treated as a Statutory Nuisance:
- Airports
- Bus stations
- Defence premises (like army bases)
- Goods vehicle operating centres
- Lighthouses
- Prisons
- Public transport operating centres
- Railway premises
- Tramway premises
- Street lights – report a street light problem to Lincolnshire County Council
These premises are deemed to require high levels of light for safety and security reasons. The most common source of complaint is domestic security lights. If you’re being disturbed by your neighbour's lighting, we would encourage you to speak to your neighbour first where possible.
If you feel you can’t talk to the people involved, or they won’t listen, report the light issue to us on the link below, and we may be able to investigate.