THE powerful lights of Leys Pools & Leisure Centre are set to be dimmed after frustrated neighbours met the council.

A night-time meeting in Pegasus Road saw residents invite Oxford City Council members into their homes to show them the extent of the glare.

Since the leisure centre first opened, residents of Pegasus Road have complained their homes have been lit up at night by lights installed opposite.

Most have taken their frustrations to Blackbird Leys Parish Council leader Gordon Roper, who arranged the meeting.

Councillors Linda Smith and Rae Humberstone, neighbourhood locality officer Dave Growcott, and leisure manager Lucy Cherry were all present.

Ms Smith said: “It was distracting. They’re very powerful lights, almost like floodlights and are reflecting off the mirrored panels on the ceiling.

“They can see the bulbs in the lamps directly. I can understand why they are annoyed, but it can be dealt with.”

She said the council had decided the lights, which normally have a “lux rating” – a measure of light intensity – at the level required for competitions, could be turned down.

A protective film will also be installed over the pool’s windows that will reducing overall glare by about 70 per cent.

Ms Smith said: “The film will be put on the windows by the end of next week.

“After that, we can look at planting in front of the windows. They are about a foot off the ground, so some shrubs or bushes would obscure them.

“Obviously that would limit what you can see from inside the centre.”

Despite blinds having been requested by residents to cover the windows, she said that outcome was unlikely: “I don’t think blinds are an option; it would be expensive, unsightly and difficult to clean.”

Frances Courtnage, 84, lives in one of the houses closest to the building. She said: “I was told the leisure centre would be 25 metres from my house, but someone came and measured and it was 19. The lights bother me.

“I don’t think they have got the money to do a lot. Instead of having the lights turned down perhaps they could dip them so they face the other way.”

Resident Robert Ellis, 64, said: “The meeting was okay. There were a few proposals that have been put forward.”