WE are told that the new LED streetlights will take some getting used to.

That is quite an understatement. Having experienced the new lights in our road for a week now, I’m no nearer getting used to them in the slightest. I believe there are some unintended consequences of the conversion to LED lights.

Firstly, the LED lights are very directional (downwards) so, from upstairs, there appear to be no streetlights at all outside the house and the street looks strangely dark and possibly a security issue.

On the face of it, the directionality of the new lights might appear to be a good thing (no light lost horizontally) but I now find I have to stumble around on my nocturnal trips to the toilet when I used to benefit from the sideways glow of the old lights illuminating my way. Secondly, the spacing of the lamp-posts was OK with the old lights as the sideways light tended to link with that from the adjacent lamp-post and provide a fairly continuous light along the street.

These same lamp-posts are no longer spaced optimally for the new lamps because they are too far apart for the illumination from each lamp to join with its neighbour.

The net result is a series of downward-facing spotlights that give local illumination but leave dead spots between the lamp-posts.

The result is a rather scary feeling of insecurity. Indeed, a neighbour has said she feels uncomfortable now walking her dog in the evening with all the dark spots along her route.

Incidentally, this problem does not seem to arise on the main roads.

Here, the columns are taller and the light beams get wider by the time they reach ground level and, in this case, do join up with the light from the next column.

Every cloud has a silver lining, however, and my son is keen to resume his stargazing now that the upward light pollution will be much reduced.

Alan Eastwood Arundel Close Knutsford