Not such a bright idea, say residents.

Businesses and residents of Keyford in Frome say they're unable to sleep at night now that Somerset County Council has installed bright new street lights along the road.

Frome resident Kit Sadgrove has complained to the council about the blaze of light that now pervades Keyford, and they have agreed to add shields.

He told Nub News : "In how many ways could the Council get it so badly wrong?" he said. "The lights are absurdly bright. The Council seems to have no awareness of the problem of light pollution.

"Secondly, the modern lights are out of character with what is a conservation area. Was the design even considered? Thirdly, white light deters bats and other species. "

Somerset County Council has defended the policy saying they now replace the old lanterns with LED (light emitting diode) lanterns when they are no longer available, because the old lights not viable to repair or as budgets permit.

A spokesperson told us : " With all local Councils under pressure to reduce carbon emissions the new LED lanterns on average give us an energy saving of 66%. This has a large impact on reducing Somerset's carbon emissions output and as a result is currently being rolled out throughout the county. "

What are the new lighting systems?

The assistant engineer for Somerset explained to Nub News. The new LED equipment uses controlled optics. The main beam of the light is focused down onto the ground to maximise the useful light produced by the fitting, while minimising spill light / light pollution and also reducing sky glow, furthermore Highways Lighting do offer shielding to any residents who feel that their property have been impacted by any stray light, they may contact us and if required we will install shielding where appropriate. But resident Kit Sadgrove added: " The Council has boasted that its new lights are cheaper to run, but it doesn't seem to have a lighting policy for historic streetscapes or environmental issues. They're complete ignoramuses."