That does look like the street lamp at the top of the photo and it isn't illuminating the pavement or the gate area, let alone the steps. AFAIK this is taken after the new lights were installed, look at the shape of them. There is plenty of light shining on the gate and up onto the balcony;
This photo shows the old lights-they are round;
This is what was said in the article where the above photos appeared;
The changing street lamps of Praia da Luz
By Nigel Moore
23 April 2009
it would have been an astonishing decision to replace the street lamps in order to reduce the quality of the lighting. So, we can safely assume that the lighting in the whole area around the Ocean Club is now considerably improved - in terms of brightness and visibility
http://www.mccannfiles.com/id237.html
Best photo I have seen so far of how the old street lamps illuminate the rear of 5A. Excellent stuff.
If I put my personal opinion on that, I am not seeing poor quality lighting. It looks to me as is the patio of 5A is fairly well lit. The entrance at the garden gate seems fairly well lit. I cannot tell whether the stairs are illuminated or not.
Moving on to why the lights were replaced. My life is too short to investigate the actual driver for this change. Was it something to do with the Madeleine disappearance. Probably not. The STOP McCann circus graffiti seems still to be in place, something that is comparatively easy to change compared to the street lighting.
It could be a simple cost decision. Old lights = expensive to run. New lights = cheaper to run.
My favourite possibility is that there was an EU directive to reduce light heading into space. I'm simply not going to search for such.
If the old spec and the new spec exist, we can make an informed decision as to whether the new lights increase the visibility.
I am not seeing anything wrong with the old visibility. IMO, of course.
