The new street lamps

Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.

When brighter lamps were installed on our street, I welcomed them. The walk from the late bus felt easier, and I could see the uneven pavement before putting a foot into it. Then I noticed that the light entered my bedroom around the curtains and left the garden without a proper patch of darkness. An improvement at the kerb had become an intrusion upstairs.

Several neighbours asked for the lamps to be adjusted rather than removed. The council eventually changed their angle and reduced the brightness during the quietest hours. The street remained usable, and my bedroom became a bedroom again. I had begun by treating more light as automatically better light. Now I thought about where it fell, who needed it and what it displaced. Safety mattered, but it did not require illuminating every leaf as though the whole neighbourhood were waiting to be inspected.

Source B: an original letter in a nineteenth-century voice. This is a period-voice simulation, not an archival document.

Sir, the lamps proposed for the lane should not be dismissed as an unnecessary ornament. Those who object most readily appear to reach their homes before dusk. For the shop assistants and others returning later, a dark turn and a broken paving stone are practical difficulties, not picturesque features. I have twice helped a neighbour recover a dropped parcel by the uncertain light of a doorway.

I agree that public money must be spent carefully. Let the lamps be well placed and maintained, rather than numerous enough to make an impressive announcement. A lamp that is installed and then neglected is only a promise mounted on a post. Yet economy should not mean asking people to purchase caution with slower journeys and avoidable falls. We do not need the lane to imitate noon. We need enough light for ordinary people to find their way home with reasonable confidence.

Refer to the whole of both sources. Compare the writers’ perspectives on street lighting and how they convey those perspectives. Support your comparison with evidence from both sources.