Bristol's Housing Chief has launched a drive aimed at cutting unnecessary floodlighting and he is calling on the public to help identify possible targets.

Councillor Mark Wright, Cabinet Member for Housing and Service Improvement, said he was appealing for people living and working in Bristol who saw council-owned buildings being floodlit at unusual or very late hours to contact the authority so that they could switch them off at the right time.

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Dr Wright, said: "As an astrophysicist I have a vested interest in reducing light pollution. But apart from this I want to cut unnecessary energy consumption which is contributing to our carbon footprint and is wasting taxpayers’ money.

"Buildings would fall into three categories: Those of heritage value, where lighting should be on until late, or occasionally, as with the Suspension Bridge, all night: buildings where timers are wrong or are not set, and can be fixed with a simple visit and other buildings where lighting is hard-wired. These will need to be added to a maintenance list to put them on timers."

The issue arose after a resident who lives within sight of the Council House contacted Dr Wright to inform him that the floodlights appeared to be in use until 5am. A misaligned timer was the cause, and this was corrected.

(CD/BMcC)