Key Satellite measurements of light at night

Campaign to Protect Rural England

ContentsSummary 3

Chapter 1 Let there be (at least some) dark 4

Chapter 2 A rapidly worsening problem 6

Chapter 3 The sources of light pollution 10Roads and streetsHomes and gardensIndustry and commerceSports and recreationBuildings and monuments

Chapter 4 The impacts of light pollution – why it matters 16Intruding into our homesWasting energy, causing air pollution and climate changePotential impacts on wildlife

Chapter 5 Safety at night 18Road safetyLights and crime

Chapter 6 How to reduce light pollution 19Technical solutionsVoluntary action by industry, commerce and consumers

RetailersConsumers

Local and national government policies against light pollutionThe land use planning system and lightingSurvey of planning authoritiesPlanning – what more should be done?Could people have a legal redress against light pollution?NuisanceBuilding Regulations

Chapter 7 Conclusion – suggested actions 29

Endnotes 31

Suggested reading 31

Websites to visit 31

2 Night blight!

• A waste of energy• A contributor to air pollution

and climate change• A serious obstacle to our

view of the wonder, beautyand mystery of the night sky

• Contributing to thedestruction of the tranquillity,quality and character of theEnglish countryside.

We set out new evidence, basedon satellite data, of the rapidspread of light pollution acrossthe United Kingdom. Weexamine the sources and theimpacts of this problem. Welook at what is now being doneto tackle light pollution andconsider what more might bedone. Our report concludes bymaking recommendations foraction – by citizens andconsumers, retailers, business,commerce and the propertysector, the Highways Agency,local government, centralgovernment and public bodies.

This report is a background document toa new joint campaign by the Campaignto Protect Rural England and the BritishAstronomical Association against lightpollution, which is

Night blight! 3

Summary

On a dark, clear night you can see some3,000 stars spread across the overturnedbowl of the sky. You can gaze at the softluminescence of the Milky Way – the greatheart of our own galaxy – splashed acrossthe heavens. With your naked eye you cansee up to five planets and the Andromedagalaxy, the nearest outside of the MilkyWay. The faint light we now see from thisneighbouring city of stars has beenhurtling towards us through space at186,300 miles per second. Even so, it hastaken 2.2 million years to reach Earth.

The night sky is the ultimate Area ofOutstanding Natural Beauty and Site ofSpecial Scientific Interest. But whileearthbound AONBs and SSSIs aredesignated by Government and have atleast some formal legal protection, thereis nothing whatsoever to prevent our viewof the heavens – the birthright of us all –from being destroyed.

And that is what is gradually happening.The grandeur, awe and beauty of thenight is being blown away by our

The sky at night has been enchanting and puzzling human beingssince long before the dawn of civilisation. Nothing else in the naturalworld achieves quite such a combination of beauty and mystery.Nothing else has inspired so much art, science and religion.

Let there be (at least some) dark

4 Night blight!

‘Can we see the whole of life oronly know a hemisphere of itbefore death? I've no idea of theanswer myself. But the sight ofstars always sets me dreaming…’Vincent Van Gogh1

Comet Hale-Bopp visible in a starry night sky, rural Dorset

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careless, wasteful use of electric lightoutdoors. Orange and pink sky glowspreads further and further out from ourtowns and cities. When light pollutionintrudes into a clear, dark night only afew dozen of the very brightest stars andplanets are visible. You can usually seemore aircraft lights than heavenlybodies. Many children have never seenthe real Milky Way.

CPRE has a special interest in seeing thispollution tackled because darkness atnight is one of the things which – up tonow, at least – has defined thecountryside and made it so differentfrom towns and cities. A moonlit rurallandscape, the bare branches of a big,ancient tree silhouetted against a starfilled sky, are precious and increasinglyendangered things.

Yet artificial light is one of the greathallmarks of civilisation. Exterior lightingcan give us a sense of security and makeroads and pavements safer. It canenhance historic and architecturallyimportant buildings, make entire urbanquarters more attractive and providegreater opportunities for sports andother entertainment.

We do not advocate dark streets and weare not opposed to exterior lighting. Butwe are firmly against its careless,inconsiderate and wasteful use – which iswhat causes light pollution. It occurs as:

Sky glow – the orange2 glow we see formiles around urban areas, andincreasingly in the countryside, causedby a scattering of artificial light by dustparticles and water droplets in the sky.

Glare – the uncomfortable brightness ofa light source when viewed against adarker background; and

Light trespass – light spilling beyond theboundary of the property on which a lightis located, sometimes shining throughwindows and curtains.

CPRE first addressed light pollution in itsleaflet Starry, Starry Night, publishedjointly with the British AstronomicalAssociation in 1994. The associationhad already begun its own Campaign forDark Skies several years earlier. Thisreport reviews the main concerns overlight pollution and proposes action to betaken by government – local andnational, by businesses and consumersto combat the spread of light pollution.

There is a need for a government policyand targets on light pollution; neitherexists at present. Changes in attitude

will, however, probably be as importantas any changes in policy, regulation andlegislation. There is growing awarenessabout the problem – but not nearlyenough. For many firms, individuals andauthorities, light pollution is not ‘on themap’. It is deeply worrying, for instance,that a leading and highly fashionablefirm of British architects (AlsopArchitects) and a borough council(Barnsley) can propose a vast ‘halo oflight’ in the skies above the town as partof their regeneration plans, withoutapparently giving the issue of lightpollution any serious thought.

But our report begins with a dramaticnew way of looking at the extent of theproblem, and the rate at which it isgrowing. This really does put lightpollution on the map.

Night blight! 5

Veil of light pollution obscuring the Southern stars

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Sky glow of Bath University viewed from Bannerdown

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Weather satellites owned and operatedby the US Air Force carry an OperationalLine Scanner, an instrument whichdetects moonlight reflected upwardsfrom clouds in order to measure theextent of cloud cover over different partsof the Earth’s surface at night3. But from500 miles up this scanner can alsodetect lights from towns and cities, fires,gas flares and heavily lit fishing boatswhen there is no cloud cover. Scientistsfrom the US National Oceanographic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA) havedeveloped ways of using this instrumentto measure the total brightness ofartificial night time lights within smallareas of the Earth’s surface.

For every one of these areas the lightdetector on the satellite makes repeatedmeasurements of light beaming upwards,capturing the rays from various angles, asit passes overhead dozens of times.

Abnormal, transient brightness, such asmight be caused by a large fire, isfiltered out in order to provide a reliableestimate of the amount of artificial lightnormally beaming upwards from everypart of planet Earth at night.

What is actually being measured is thecombination of all of the individual lightsources within each small area. Thus onerelatively small but powerful light source– say a floodlit stadium – within anindividual area might be measured as

the equivalent of a suburb lit by streetlights. The analysis can register the lightfrom small, isolated rural communities ofabout 100 homes surrounded by unlitcountryside.4 Some of the light beingcaptured consists of reflections from theground, but most of it is direct rays fromexterior electric lights.

The data can be used to createremarkable maps of artificial night-timelight, composed of huge numbers of tinypixels – each one corresponding to anarea and given a unit value and a colourshading according to the power of thelight beaming up from it. These mapsprovide an approximate but adequateoverall measure of light pollution in eachlocality. The analysis appears to pick upsome of the ‘sky glow’ being cast outfrom well lit areas into unlit countryside.5

NOAA has been creating such maps for theyears 1993 and 2000, so that the changeover a seven year period can be examined.This exercise is being carried out for theMillennium Ecosystem Assessment, aglobal effort by international scientificorganisations, UN agencies andgovernments to compile information onthe state of the earth’s ecosystems andhow they are changing. The night light dataprovides a new way of looking at urbanexpansion and energy use.

NOAA has provided CPRE with this as yetunpublished data for the entire United

Kingdom. So, for the first time, we have ahigh resolution, nationwide indicator oflight pollution in the British Isles whichtells us how its extent is changing withthe passing of time.

The increase in brightness over the sevenyear period was much greater than wehad anticipated. Light pollution appearsto be rapidly worsening. Some pixels –representing a few per cent of England’sland surface in total – had becomedarker. Perhaps a switch to modern, ‘fullcut off’, street lighting (see page 11below) is the reason. But the greatmajority of the nation’s land surface hadbecome more brightly lit at night.

The maps, as we said earlier, are made upof tiny square pixels less than a mile wide.The value assigned to each of these rangesfrom 0 to 255. A zero value means theinstrument on the satellite is detecting nonight time light at all in that pixel. At 255the instrument is, effectively, saturated (apixel might be brighter but the detectionequipment cannot tell the difference).Between 0 and 255 the number varies indirect proportion with the brightness of thelight. Our analysis found that between1993 and 2000 the average pixel in theUK became 12 units brighter at night.

To create our maps, we divided the pixelsamong five colour bands according to theirbrightness value. In the darkest blue band(below the value of 2), which covers the

6 Night blight!

A rapidly worsening problemCPRE has obtained new satellite data which shows how rapidly lightpollution is growing in the UK.

sea and the most thinly populated, remoteparts of the country, the analysis is pickingup virtually no artificial lights at night. Inthe bright red band (above 240), whichoverlies large parts of all of the largertowns and cities, the satellite detector isnear or at the point of saturation. Althoughsome pixels within the red area may bemuch brighter than others, they are all toobright for any differentiation.

Between deep blue and bright red lie twobands of progressively lighter blue and abrighter, yellow band. The yellow bandsurrounds the red areas and joins manyof them together in a network of light.The yellow corresponds to sprawlingsuburbs, medium sized towns and litstretches of road which join them.

What does all of this mean, in terms oflight pollution experienced on the

ground? The answer depends on yourprecise, local circumstances. It would, forexample, be possible for you to be in oneof the darkest areas on the map – yet stillhave your view of the stars obscured by asingle bright light close to you.

In general, however, there is a goodchance of seeing the Milky Way on a clear,moonless night from a vantage pointwithin one of the deepest blue areas. Ourvery own galaxy becomes harder andharder to view within the next two, lighterblue bands. (If, however, you are in arelatively dark pocket, with no externallights within a few hundred metres, thechances become higher; much dependson the amount of dust and water dropletsin the air). There is no chance of seeingthe Milky Way on even the clearest nightwithin the red and yellow bands wheremost of the population lives.

Across England, 26 per cent of all pixels,representing just over a quarter of thenation’s total land area, had shifted up abrightness band while only two per centhad shifted down a band. The biggestchange of all involved the two lighterblue bands, with great tracts of thelowland countryside becoming morebrightly lit at night. The proportion ofEngland’s land area within the darkestband fell from 15 per cent in 1993 to 11per cent in 2000.

These maps provide a fresh perspectiveon the rapid loss and fragmentation ofEngland’s tranquil areas which CPRE firstexposed in its Tranquil Area maps6. Andthey expose a major growth in lightpollution over just seven years.

Night blight! 7

To view or order a printed copy of our regional maps of light pollution, view the light pollution section of ourwebsite, www.cpre.org.uk, or telephone freephone 0800 163680 and ask for CPRE Publications.

1993 2000Key 0 –1.7 1.71– 50 50.01–150 150.01–240 240.01–255

In the table below we show how the area of each county and region in England wasdivided between the five different brightness bands in 2000, the proportion of theirareas which shifted up a band – becoming brighter – between 1993 and 2000, and theproportion which shifted down.

8 Night blight!

Key 0 –1.7 1.71– 50 50.01–150 150.01–240 240.01–255

United Kingdom – 1993East Midlands 1993 East Midlands 2000

WorksopBuxton

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BostonTheWash

Nottingham

Lincoln Skegness

Percentage of local areaPercentage of local area in each of the five light moving up or down a pollution bands in 2000 (see key on page 7) band between 1993 and 2000

Increase by Decrease by

Dark blue Blue Light blue Yellow Red 1 band or more 1 band or more

0-1.7 1.71-50 50.01 – 150 150.01-240 240 - 255 (getting brighter) (getting darker)North EastDurham 16% 22% 34% 25% 4% 28% 2%Northumberland 45% 28% 22% 4% 1% 30% 1%Teeside* 0% 0% 26% 37% 36% 24% 0%Tyne and Wear* 0% 0% 1% 19% 80% 6% 0%REGIONAL TOTAL 31% 23% 24% 13% 9% 28% 1%

North WestCheshire 0% 1% 52% 35% 12% 29% 0%Cumbria 29% 32% 35% 3% 0% 40% 1%Greater Manchester 0% 0% 5% 21% 74% 14% 0%Lancashire 5% 14% 41% 32% 8% 20% 1%Merseyside 0% 0% 3% 27% 70% 15% 0%REGIONAL TOTAL 15% 19% 35% 17% 13% 30% 1%

Yorkshire and the HumberHumberside* 3% 17% 63% 13% 5% 35% 0%North Yorkshire 19% 38% 38% 4% 0% 30% 2%South Yorkshire 0% 0% 35% 46% 19% 17% 4%West Yorkshire 0% 0% 29% 39% 32% 13% 3%REGIONAL TOTAL 11% 25% 42% 14% 7% 27% 2%

Night blight! 9

Percentage of local areaPercentage of local area in each of the five light moving up or down a pollution bands in 2000 (see key on page 7) band between 1993 and 2000

Increase by Decrease by

Dark blue Blue Light blue Yellow Red 1 band or more 1 band or more

0-1.7 1.71-50 50.01 – 150 150.01-240 240 - 255 (getting brighter) (getting darker)

East MidlandsDerbyshire 0% 1% 66% 29% 4% 27% 2%Leicestershire 0% 7% 62% 26% 5% 31% 1%Lincolnshire 5% 27% 63% 5% 0% 46% 1%Nottinghamshire 0% 2% 65% 22% 11% 25% 1%Northamptonshire 0% 2% 79% 17% 2% 38% 1%Rutland 0% 3% 94% 2% 0% 41% 0%REGIONAL TOTAL 2% 12% 67% 16% 3% 37% 1%

West MidlandsHereford & Worcester 19% 18% 50% 12% 1% 30% 2%Shropshire 18% 18% 58% 5% 1% 41% 2%Warwickshire 0% 3% 70% 24% 3% 24% 1%West Midlands 0% 0% 8% 15% 77% 6% 1%Staffordshire 0% 1% 67% 26% 6% 30% 1%REGIONAL TOTAL 11% 11% 56% 15% 7% 30% 1%

East of EnglandBedfordshire 0% 0% 69% 27% 5% 17% 1%Cambridgeshire 0% 7% 78% 13% 2% 34% 1%Essex 1% 3% 66% 23% 7% 20% 2%Hertfordshire 0% 0% 47% 44% 9% 10% 3%Norfolk 12% 33% 51% 4% 1% 26% 5%Suffolk 7% 25% 59% 8% 1% 27% 5%REGIONAL TOTAL 5% 16% 61% 15% 3% 25% 3%

South EastBuckinghamshire 0% 0% 67% 26% 8% 17% 1%Berkshire 1% 9% 47% 29% 13% 21% 1%East Sussex 1% 12% 72% 13% 3% 21% 2%West Sussex 3% 11% 67% 18% 2% 15% 5%Greater London 0% 0% 1% 9% 91% 2% 0%Hampshire 3% 10% 64% 15% 8% 22% 3%Isle of Wight 9% 21% 55% 14% 0% 11% 5%Oxfordshire 0% 5% 81% 13% 1% 27% 1%Surrey 0% 0% 45% 37% 17% 13% 0%Kent 1% 5% 68% 22% 5% 20% 2%REGIONAL TOTAL 1% 7% 61% 19% 12% 19% 2%

South WestAvon* 0% 0% 54% 31% 15% 18% 1%Cornwall 18% 37% 39% 6% 0% 17% 5%Devon 37% 24% 33% 6% 1% 18% 5%Dorset 24% 21% 42% 9% 4% 16% 9%Gloucestershire 2% 15% 74% 8% 2% 35% 1%Somerset 18% 20% 58% 5% 0% 24% 3%Wiltshire 12% 18% 61% 8% 1% 30% 5%REGIONAL TOTAL 20% 22% 48% 8% 2% 22% 5%

ENGLAND 11% 16% 51% 14% 7% 26% 2%NORTHERN IRELAND 8% 27% 57% 6% 1% 50% 0%WALES 46% 16% 28% 8% 1% 19% 4%SCOTLAND 62% 17% 17% 3% 2% 17% 1%UK TOTAL 31% 17% 38% 10% 4% 24% 2%

*former county boundary.

The great majority of Britain’s land masswould have been in the darkest band.Light pollution has become a significantissue in the UK over the last 50 years.More and more motorways, roads andstreets have been lit. Glaring flood lightsfor sports and recreational facilities havesprung up everywhere, many of them inor next to open countryside. Add to thatthe increasing use of powerful securitylights in private gardens, and the growinguse of floodlights to illuminate ‘heritage’buildings.

Roads and streetsBefore the 1950s it was commonpractice to extinguish street lightingafter midnight. Even when street lampswere left on, the relatively small numberof lights meant that it was still possibleto appreciate the night sky in towns andcities. By the beginning of the 21stcentury there were approximately 6.2million street lights in the UK and 4.7million in England7.

Most roads within towns and cities areilluminated, and increasingly the roads,junctions and service stations whichconnect them are brightly lit, creatingribbons of light through the countryside.When motorways are widened from three

to four lanes, they are usually then lit.And as more and more urbanisationspreads gradually across thecountryside, the total area of landsurface lit at night also grows.

The problem is that many street lights castmuch of their illumination sideways andupwards, where it is not needed andcontributes most to light pollution. Globe-shaped lights, used in some street lightingschemes, are particular culprits; they alsoleave a large area of the ground inshadow. Street lights should be shieldedwith reflectors and hoods so that all oftheir light is angled sharply downwards.

The sources of light pollution

10 Night blight!

Bath today

Bath in the 1950s

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A century ago, the brightly colouredareas on our night light maps of the UKwould have covered only a tinyproportion of their current area.

Fortunately, some highway authorities(local councils) and the Government’sHighways Agency are replacing wastefulstreet and road lights with Full Cut Off(FCO) luminaires. These ensure that lightbeams are directed below the horizontal.In some places where conventional,inefficient road lights have beenreplaced with FCOs on taller poles thereis a need for only four FCOs for every fiveof the old lights. The Institution ofLighting Engineers says ‘light pollutioncan be substantially reduced withoutdetriment to the lighting task’8.

Illuminated road studs are a cheaper andless light polluting alternative to streetlights on more rural roads. They look likecat’s eyes, but instead of reflecting thelights from headlights back at drivers toshow where the edge and centre of theroad are these devices use light emittingdiodes. These diodes are lit through the

night, allowing drivers to see the line of abendy road beyond the beam of theirheadlights. The studs can be powered bya battery which is charged up by a verysmall photovoltaic (solar powered)panel. Such studs have already beeninstalled in several locations in the UK.They are much cheaper than street lightsto install, maintain and operate, theycause virtually no light pollution and theyare less obtrusive during daylight.

The Highways Agency, responsible forlighting the strategic road network ofmotorways and other major intercityroutes, has made big strides in cuttinglight pollution. This is good news,because many of these lights are onroads in or next to the countryside. Theagency has told us that some two thirdsof its total number of lights are now FullCut Off HPS (high pressure sodium)lights, with the remainder consisting of

the more light polluting LPS (lowpressure sodium) type. It argues thatcutting light pollution accords with oneof its key objectives – to minimise theimpact of the trunk road network on boththe natural and built environment. Olderlights are gradually being replacedthroughout the network but the agencycould not give us any date by which theywill all have been phased out. It can,however, take action to cut light pollutionin environmentally sensitive areas with‘special requirements’9.

The Highways Agency is responsible forsome 150,000 road and street lights – avery small proportion of the nationaltotal of some 6.2 million, according tothe Institution of Lighting Engineers. Thegreat majority of road and street lightingis the responsibility of highwayauthorities – county councils or unitarycouncils. And whilst almost all of thislighting is to be found in our towns, citiesand suburbs, the light pollution it causesspreads for miles into the countryside inthe form of orange sodium skyglow.

Progress in reducing light pollutionappears to be much slower and patchieramong highways authorities, with somedemonstrating far more concern andaction than others. The British Standards

Night blight! 11

You can see the chain oflights around theperimeter of the area…the marshes are no longera place of mystery andremoteness but arecontained and encircledby these damn lights!CPRE supporter fromCanterbury.

Globe lights fail to light the area below, spilling light sideways and upwards

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When I was a child and there was no lighting in ourvillage it was exciting to walk in the dark. We kneweveryone by their footstep and their flashlight. I lovewalking in the dark – but I can’t do it anymore. Thereisn’t any dark in my village. CPRE supporter from Nottinghamshire.

Institution has a Code of Practice forroad and street lighting (BS 5489) whichhighway authorities can and shouldsubscribe to. The code acknowledgesthat rays beaming upwards from streetlights should always be minimised. Butinstead of calling for Full Cut Offluminaires to be introduced everywhere,the code confines itself to saying thattheir installation should ‘be considered’in the countryside and environmentallysensitive areas, at roundabouts and onelevated roads and bridges.

There is no central record kept to show therate at which lights are being replaced, andwhether the replacements are of the lowlight pollution, Full Cut Off type, although atthe time of completing this report theDepartment for Transport was trying tocompile an inventory. Nor have we beenable to find any reliable estimate for theproportion of England’s total number ofroad and street lights which falls into thiscategory – but it is a small minority. Theold, orange low pressure sodium lights stillpredominate. Many of these need replacing– and soon, for England now has a rapidlygrowing glut of elderly and potentiallydangerous lighting columns. According tothe Institution of Lighting Engineers, 61 percent of England’s street lights are morethan 20 years old and 27 per cent are over

30 years old; the design life of most typesof lighting column is, however, only 25years. The Government’s Ten Year Plan forTransport10 makes a pledge to clear thenation’s large backlog of roadmaintenance, and the spending plansattached to it are intended to fund thereplacement of a large portion of theageing stock of light columns. TheGovernment puts the cost of this at about£1 billion.

There is, then, an enormous opportunity toreduce light pollution – provided Full CutOff lighting takes the place of the old lowpressure sodium lights.

Homes and gardensPowerful exterior lighting which blastsillumination across gardens and intoneighbouring properties has becomecommon in suburbia and more ruralhousing. The owners can see all of theirgardens for 24 hours of the day andperhaps feel safer at night (although wecould find no solid evidence that suchlighting reduces the risks of break-ins).But such lights are in danger of becominga scourge of good neighbourliness, akinto loud noise and Leylandii.

Sales of exterior domestic security lightshave grown significantly over the last 20

12 Night blight!

A CPRE volunteer from Kent told us how she used toenjoy the night view of ‘a discreetly floodlit DoverCastle in the distance cradled by folding hills’. Butnow she finds ‘a vivid and sulphurous glare created bystreet and, presumably, security lighting erected inthe new ‘port zone’ development… the yellownessrises above this harsh lighting into the sky above it.One can see the castle through it, but only if oneknows it’s there, as it is a sad grey little blob’.

Roundabout before it was lit with Full Cut Off lighting …the same roundabout afterwards

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years11. Over this period higher efficiency,longer lasting lights have come onto themarket. But despite Institution of LightingEngineers recommendations that 150 watttungsten halogen bulbs are ‘more thanadequate’ for security lighting at home,retailers continue to promote 300-500watt domestic security lights – oftenlacking either installation instructions orshades and fittings which prevent themfrom blasting light sideways and upwards.Such a light can make viewing the starsdifficult if not impossible for an observerhundreds of metres away12.

Industry and commerceWe found one particular cause of lightpollution to be large industrial andcommercial premises, usually related totransport – freight depots, ferry terminals,industrial estates and so forth. Anincreasing number of these areaggressively lit by powerful and poorlyshielded lights on tall columns, castingglare and skyglow deep into thecountryside and far out to sea. The lightfrom Poole ferry terminal, for example, isvisible from 30 miles out into the EnglishChannel, even though it is below thehorizon at that distance.13

Night blight! 13

Sky glow from Poole ferry terminal

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‘Whixley [in North Yorkshire]… ‘enjoys’ a nightscape more fitted to an industriallocation than a rural setting… housing near the school has to contend with a scenewhich is reminiscent of a high security prison’. CPRE volunteer.

Several CPRE supporters told us aboutlarge out-of-town and edge-of-towndevelopments whose aggressive exteriorlighting blights the night sky, such as theIKEA store at Giltbrook inNottinghamshire and the BartonBusiness Park, Barton under Needwood,Staffordshire, in the New NationalForest, with its Bombardier train worksand Argos distribution depot.

In some places, public sector buildings –including schools – are grossly overlitthrough the night. We heard about farmbuildings in the middle of opencountryside which now have powerfuland intrusive exterior lighting.

Sports and recreationFloodlit sports facilities are a rapidlygrowing source of light pollution, usuallynear or on the edge of towns and cities,and sometimes in the open countryside.At golf driving ranges much of the lightgoes upwards and sidewards toilluminate the balls in flight. CPREvolunteers have given us many examplesof planning applications for floodlitgames pitches, golf driving ranges,tennis courts and bowling greens; somethat have been accepted and somerefused. When constructed, the lights ofsuch facilities can be seen from manymiles away, deep in the countryside –either directly or as bright skyglow abovethe horizon. For instance, one volunteertold us of the Pedham Place golf drivingrange near Swanley, next to the KentDowns Area of Outstanding NaturalBeauty. From down in the scenic DarentValley, part of the AONB and one of bestrural landscapes close to London, thelights from this range can be seenglaring over the skyline.

Buildings and monumentsThere has been something of a mania,over the past two decades, forfloodlighting buildings that are old,distinctive, distinguished or sometimesnone of these. The types of buildings

include churches, private homes, hotels,offices and town halls and entire facadesand terraces in conservation areas andtown centres. There seem to be a varietyof motivations – civic and personal pride,the belief that it boosts local tourism andthe night time economy and that itmakes visitors feel safer and morewelcome at night. Often this floodlightingis, quite literally, ‘over-the-top’ – much ofthe light shines straight up into the sky,never touching the building.

The proposal for a gigiantic ‘halo of light’in the sky over Barnsley, mentioned in theintroduction, is one example of this‘creating a night time spectacle’ tendencytaken to extremes. Another is the plan foran enormous, illuminated steel structure,the 160 foot tall Sky Vault, which isintended to act as a gateway to the EastMidlands by straddling the M1 or A1motorway.14 Tom Hughes, a member ofthe design team 2HD, confessed: ‘Thelight pollution issue did not initially occurto us, but we’ve since had severalcomments and it is one of the things weare going to have to deal with’.

Of particular concern are powerfulsearchlights – ‘skybeams’ - used toadvertise nightclubs in small and mediumsized towns. These can be seen from adozen or more miles away, light up theclouds and – in the case of searchlights –create large quantities of skyglow. Whenassociated with commercial premises,such displays constitute advertising and

14 Night blight!

Good example of outdoor lighting in large retailers car park, Ulverston

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Glare from bad car park lighting scheme, Midlands

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The glow from Bath City football ground, Bath

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can be covered by the planning controlswhich apply to advertising outdoors15. Weurge local planning authorities to act.

National Lottery money has also fundedsome questionable church lightingschemes. The Millennium Commissionhas paid towards 400 churchfloodlighting projects across England ata cost of £2.2 million.

We are not opposed to the illuminationof buildings in towns and cities. We thinkthis can make them more attractive andwelcoming at night, with all of the socialand economic benefits which flow fromthat. Illumination can enable people toenjoy the beauty and distinctiveness ofour finest buildings for longer hours and,

quite literally, in a new light. We aresimply arguing for more carefullydirected, less wasteful and more subtleillumination.16 Leeds’ impressive TownHall provides a good example. One localauthority, Colchester, has gone so far asto introduce a Local Plan policy statingthat external lighting should ‘not detractfrom historic buildings’.

Particular care needs to be taken inilluminating churches and otherbuildings in villages and the countryside.We think the case for floodlighting achurch in a rural setting will often be avery weak one. But for those that alreadyare, the hours when they are lit should berestricted. Why should they ever be litafter midnight, for instance?

Night blight! 15

‘There is nothing morebeautiful than a darkenedchurch spire silhouettedagainst a full moon’.CPRE member fromNorfolk.

Floodlighting often lights more of the night sky thanthe building

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Night club skybeams, Guildford

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A halo of light surrounding a rural church, Warwickshire

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It has been estimated that on a dark,clear night the average person can see2,000-3,000 stars in the absence of anylight pollution. But most British peoplewho care to look upwards on such a nightwill actually be able to see a few dozen at most.

Our supporters told us how urban areascast their skyglow many miles beyond thecity limits and deep into the countryside.The glow from Teeside is visible from themoors 20 miles away; that from Bristoland Bath it can be seen from the otherside of the Mendip Hills over 20 milesaway.

Scientists have compiled a world atlas of‘artificial night sky brightness’, using thetype of satellite data described on pages6-7, collected during 1996 and 199718.They also mapped the unlit areascovered by the skyglow cast outwardsfrom towns and cities. Knowing how thepopulation was distributed, they devisedestimates for what proportion of everynation’s population experienced lightpollution levels which made the MilkyWay invisible. For the world as a whole,this was 21 per cent, for the European

Union 51 per cent and for the UnitedKingdom 55 per cent. But it is not justour view of the heavens which is at stake.

Intruding into our homesWhen other people’s bright lights shineinto people’s homes at night – in otherwords, light trespass – this harms theirquality of life and can rob them of sleep.The law recognises other kinds of

immediate environmental damage thatimpacts on people in their homes – loudnoises, foul smells and so on – asnuisance. We discuss on page 27 how lightpollution can be considered as a nuisance.

The Chartered Institute of EnvironmentalHealth has twice surveyed itsmembership, the environmental healthofficers (EHOs) working for local

The impacts of lightpollution – why itmatters

16 Night blight!

Bright security lights infringe on residential amenity

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A survey carried out by the Campaign for Dark Skiesconcluded that ‘90% of people who wish to see the night skyin the UK probably suffer light pollution at least noticeableenough to hinder observation’17.

authorities, to assess people’scomplaints about light pollution19. Themost recent of these surveys, carried outin 1996, found that 55 per cent of allcomplaints received by EHOs related todomestic security lighting withfloodlighting of sports facilities comingsecond at 21 per cent. The number ofcomplaints is still small compared tonuisances like noise but the trend isupwards. Two thirds of the complaintsreceived were considered justifiable.

The Campaign for Dark Skies has beennotified of cases where residents havebeen forced to move into differentbedrooms and even move houses toescape their neighbours’ thoughtlessoutdoor lighting20. Sometimes requeststo turn lights off are ignored, or lead todisputes. In the USA there has been atleast one case, to date, of a row betweenneighbours over domestic securitylighting leading to murder21.

Wasting energy, causing air pollutionand climate changeAll light pollution is wasted energy; lightshining where it is not wanted or needed.And the great majority of that wastedlight is made by burning fossil fuels inpower stations. From the smoke stacksof these power stations flow airpollutants which cause acid rain andharm human health, as well as thecarbon dioxide gas which we know to begradually building up in the earth’satmosphere, trapping heat, changingclimates and raising the sea level.

The Department of Trade and Industrydoes not have statistics which show howmuch energy is consumed by, and howmuch pollution and greenhouse gasescan be attributed to, outdoor lighting inBritain. And neither it, nor any other partof Government, has the faintest idea howmuch of that exterior lighting is wastedin light pollution. We were, however, ableto make some rough ‘back of theenvelope’ calculations. We estimated

that each year between 100,000 and500,000 tonnes of fossil fuels werebeing burnt to generate the electricity forall types of exterior lighting across thecountry. If this lighting was cut by justone tenth in order to reduce lightpollution – by using less powerful andmore efficient, better directed lighting –then Britain’s output of carbon dioxidewould be cut by several tens ofthousands of tonnes a year.

Potential impacts on wildlifeMany animal and plant species areknown to be sensitive to the changes inday length that come with the passing ofthe seasons. The changing light cueschanges in their own lives concerned withgrowth and feeding, reproduction andmigration. Some bird species use thestars for night time navigation. Somenocturnal species, such as bats, are notadapted for activity in bright light. Whatimpact is the spread of artificial nighttime lighting having on the natural world?

Sometimes the effect is obvious; forexample, when the branches of adeciduous trees next to a street lightretain their leaves in winter, or when asong bird sings a mistimed dawn chorusbeneath a street lamp.

To date, we have little understanding ofthe impact of light pollution on flora andfauna in the UK – largely because the

research that might reveal such effectshas not been done. It has beenhypothesised that artificial lighting maybe behind the drastic decline in the UK ofthe glow worm (a small, flying beetle thatglows faintly to attract its mate)22. Thishas not been demonstrated and it islikely that destruction of its grasslandhabitat has been a factor in its dwindlingfortunes. It may be difficult for scientistsworking in field conditions to disentanglethe effects of artificial light on speciesfrom other human-caused factors.

Night blight! 17

‘My next door neighbourinstalled security lights tohis patio. An owl andbats used to come to ourgarden at night. Now theydon’t come anymore.’CPRE volunteer fromNottinghamshire.

Well directed lights illuminate only the intended area

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Road safetyWe accept the evidence that lit roads are,generally, safer than unlit ones.23 We donot want a reduction in the length of litroads but we do advocate thereplacement of wasteful, light pollutingold street and road lights with Full Cut Offlighting (see page 11). The overall lengthof motorway and A roads that are lit inthe open countryside should not continueto grow. We recognise that there may bea few stretches of such road where astrong safety case can be made for anextension of lighting, but we argue thatsolar-powered LED cats’ eyes beconsidered as an alternative.

Lights and crimeIt is widely believed that street lightingand security lighting reduce crime. Inreality, things are less clear cut. TheHome Office has previously publishedstudies and reports which find that streetlighting has little or no impact on crime24.However, the Home Office CrimePrevention Unit’s latest systematicreview of research into this questionlooked at 13 separate studies in the USAand UK and concluded that improvedlighting did lead to reductions in crime25.Whether security lighting at individualhouseholds reduces the risks of burglaryhas not been established, and the samecan be said for industrial andcommercial premises. Owners andlandlords believe that flooding theirproperties with bright light deters break-ins, but criminals pay as much or moreattention to fencing, alarms and thepresence of security guards and passersby who could raise the alarm.

While lighting may not always reduce theactual risks of crime, it does makepeople feel less threatened by the crimesthey fear most; assault, rape, robberyand burglary. That can be as importantas reducing the real risks they areexposed to, since the fear of crimeseriously reduces quality of life. We donot advocate dark streets. Rather, wewant the lighting used for security to beefficient rather than overpowering andfor it to be well shielded, so that it doesnot add to light pollution.

The Government’s Crime Reductionwebsite26 is highly critical of one of themost popular types of security lightsinstalled by households, the 250 - 500watt lights triggered by an infra-reddetector. It argues that they cast deepshadows, are too glaring, disturbneighbours and may fail to deter crime.Instead it advocates high efficiencycompact fluorescent lights which burnfrom dusk to dawn, consume less thanone twentieth the electricity and producemuch less light and light pollution.

Safety at night

18 Night blight!

We would not advocate any reductions in lightpollution if these would put human lives in danger orreduce people’s quality of life.

Full Cut Off lights illuminate the road without lighting up the night sky – but notice the sky glow from a settlement inthe distance.

Urbis

Some years ago, when Iwas running the smallplanetarium at the RoyalObservatory in Greenwich,I received a letter from alady living near Whitstablein Kent. 'Before the war,we used to see so manystars,' she wrote. 'Butthey're not thereanymore. Is it possiblethat they've faded?' Broadcaster andastronomer HeatherCouper.

Night blight! 19

The time has come to take the invertedcommas away from ‘light pollution’. It isa real and – as our new data show – arapidly worsening phenomenon. We wantGovernment to decide that light pollutionshould be prevented from getting anyworse, and draw up the policies andindicators needed to achieve this goal.

Satellite data, similar to that used in thisreport, could provide the basis forindicators of overall light pollution whichcould then be used to set targets. Oneobvious target is that the total land areaof the UK in the darkest, least lightpolluted category should not shrink anymore. Another target could be that thetotal areas in the two lightest bandsshould not increase any further.

In our view, two things are required tocheck the growth in light pollution. First,there needs to be much more awarenessof the issue, making more businessesand consumers appreciate that theirindividual decisions on selling andpurchasing exterior lighting have animpact on us all. Rising awareness willchange attitudes and, we hope, lead tomore voluntary action to combat theproblem. We hope this report and localcampaigning by CPRE and BAAvolunteers can contribute to that.

But increased awareness and voluntaryaction will probably not suffice to stopthe problem getting worse. The second

thing that needs to be done is forGovernment to set up a cross-departmental review involving the Officeof the Deputy Prime Minister, theDepartment of the Environment, Foodand Rural Affairs and the Department ofTrade and Industry. The outcome of thisreview would be a series ofrecommendations for the most costeffective and practical policies fortackling the growth in light pollution aswell as the indicators and targetsmentioned above.

We give our thoughts on what thesepolicies should be below. But werecognise that whether the problem isaddressed through voluntary action orgovernment interventions, at the local ornational level, technical solutions willplay a leading role.

Technical solutionsIf the spread of light pollution is to behalted, then changes in the design andinstallation of exterior lights will play aleading part. These technical fixes, which

In 2000, the Government published a Rural White Paper27 which recognised that:‘Light pollution’ of the night sky is an increasing intrusion into the countryside at night.28

How to reduce light pollution

Out of town developments light up the countryside for miles, Peak District

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are for the most part quite simple, arealready widely available30. We have nodoubt that the lighting industry can comeup with more. Essentially, there are threeways of having outside light whilst notcausing light pollution

• Ensure all exterior lighting has fixingsand shieldings which ensure beamsare angled downwards, rather thanhorizontally or upwards

• Have only the amount of light needed,rather than overlighting as so oftenhappens

• Switch off exterior lights when they arenot needed – by turning them off whenthere are no people up and about, orby not having over-sensitive movementdetectors.

Voluntary action by industry,commerce and consumersExterior lighting equipment reaches thepeople who want it through a complexsupply chain, as is the case for manyother markets. At one end are themanufacturers of lighting, some of thembased overseas. At the other end areconsumers – owners or tenants ofproperty, or developers of property. Inbetween them are wholesalers anddistributors, retailers, and those whospecify and install exterior lighting.

If all the links in this chain werecommitted to tackling light pollution, theproblem would be solved. We note thegood work done by the Institution ofLighting Engineers in setting out codes ofpractice which call for sensitivity in thedesign, usage and strength of externallighting and which point out the financialand environmental benefits of reducedenergy consumption. Many of the firms inthe supply chain will be concerned about

20 Night blight!

Full Cut Off lighting spills no beams above the horizontal Badly designed lighting spills light horizontally and upwards

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CZECH IT OUTIn 2002 the Czech Republicintroduced the Protection of theAtmosphere Act, defining lightpollution as 'every form of artificiallight which is dispersed outside theareas it is dedicated to, particularly ifdirected above the level of thehorizon'29. Citizens are now obliged to'take measures to prevent theoccurrence of light pollution in theair' or face a fine. Authorities are nowrequired to use fully shielded lights tocontrol the spread of light, usingfittings to prevent light dispersingupwards and sideways. Advertisingbillboards have to be lit from above,with their lights pointing downwards.

Similar legislation has been adoptedat a regional level in other countries.

In Italy the Lombardy Parliamentpassed a light pollution bill in 2000which makes it illegal to install newlight fixtures emitting light directlyabove the horizontal, whilst nearamateur and professionalobservatories all unshielded,polluting lighting should be replacedwithin four years.

In September 2002, the 2ndEuropean Symposium on theProtection of the Night Sky took placein Lucerne, Switzerland. Theattendees unanimously requested allEuropean governments and theEuropean Union to take immediateaction to control light pollution. Theseactions, they suggested, shouldinclude educational campaigns, newlegislation and research.

adding to the problem of growing lightpollution. Some will even see anopportunity in marketing ‘green’, lowlight pollution alternatives.

There is, however, a tendency for most ofthose in the supply chain to seek toexpand the overall market and sell morelighting. Many of the potentialpurchasers of exterior lights, be theybusinesses or households, also have aperception that banishing the dark is agood thing and the more light there is,the merrier. This perception, more thananything, may explain why the problem isgrowing so rapidly (see panel).

RetailersThe shelves of DIY superstores andelectrical shops are still dominated bypowerful, light-polluting security lightsdespite more than a decade ofcampaigning against light pollution.Although the Institution of LightingEngineers32 says 150 watt lights aremore than adequate for domesticsecurity, retailers continue to offer 500watt versions.

The Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS) hascommented: ‘The simple fact is thatnearly all security lights on retailers’shelves have not been designed with aview to trying to restrict their emissionsto the premises to be lit. This wouldinvolve the addition of shielding, bafflesor louvres, and not least the inclusion intheir packaging of instructions onsensitive mounting of these devices.33’

The CfDS entered into a dialogue withB&Q, one of the UK’s largest DIYsuperstore chains, in 2001. The firmagreed to promote a particular lightwhich was marked as an ‘anti-lightpollution’ model, to promote other lowerwattage lights and show lights incatalogues pointing down. Two otherchains, Homebase and Focus Do It All,have agreed in writing to review theirbuying and advertising policies in 2003.

CPRE conducted a small scale survey ofthree DIY stores in a locality, one fromeach of these three chains, to see whatsecurity light products they sell and howthey market them34.

B&Q offered models with bulbs rangingfrom 150 watts to 500 watts. The ‘anti-light pollution lamp’ mentioned abovewas on special offer and positioned ateye level on the shelf. It has severalfeatures (such as a downwards angledhead, a hood, and a device whichprevents the lamp tipping too farupwards) aimed at minimising the risk oflight pollution.

The majority of lamps on sale in theHomebase store had 500 watt bulbs.Whilst this store did stock a ‘Dark SkyFriendly’ light, it appeared to have few ofthe features mentioned in reference tothe anti-light pollution lamp above. Noneof the products were pictured pointingdownwards, well below the horizontal,and there were no shields or hoods onany of the high-powered security lights.However, there were information leaflets

Night blight! 21

Downward pointed domestic security light

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From the website of the Institutionof Lighting Engineers:Good lighting promotes a feeling ofsecurity and well being; bad lightingkills people, places and jobs. Bytargeting schools and colleges theILE seeks to show how for relativelylittle financial outlay, the wholelifestyle of housing estates, towncentres and industrial areas can betransformed to have a high profilevisible impact on the quality of life fortheir inhabitants. The ILE has proventhat tremendous improvements canbe achieved at small cost. TheInstitution lobbies central and localgovernment to this effect and seeksto raise public awareness particularlyamong the young about the crucialrole of lighting in everyday life. 31

inserted in some of the productsdescribing how to install them so as tominimise light pollution.

In Focus Do It All, the majority of thelamps were 150 watt. Whilst these werenot marketed as anti-light pollution, mostwere pictured pointing down. There was noother in-store information about the issueand there was no attempt to promote themore efficient lamps in preference to the500 watt variety on the grounds ofeconomy or minimising light pollution.

ConsumersA growing number of people are blastingtheir gardens with artificial light becauseit makes them feel safer or they thinktheir gardens look attractive lit up or theywant to show them off. The burgeoningnumber of ‘garden makeover’programmes on television has probablycontributed to this tendency.

It does not have to be this way. Gardensat night can be discreetly, beautifully andsecurely lit without beaming light into thenight sky or onto neighbours’ homes andgardens. Householders can play theirpart by

• avoiding overlighting• being careful about where the light goes• using timers which keep the lights on

only when they are needed• using movement detector switches

that not over-sensitive to the pointwhere they flash on and off throughthe night.

They will be saving themselves moneyand cutting pollution in the process.

Local and national governmentpolicies against light pollutionIncreased awareness and voluntary actionwill probably not suffice to stop lightpollution from worsening. Governmentneeds to develop policies. Beforeconsidering what these might be, we lookat action – and inaction – to date.

Artificial light is not defined as apollutant in any UK law. And although theissue is briefly discussed on theEnvironment Agency’s web site thisofficial environmental protection bodyhas no remit to address light pollution35.

Light pollution was, however, mentionedin a variety of government documentscovering land use planning policy andrural policy published in the previousdecade. The 1995 Rural White Paper36

said that the intrusiveness of lighting inthe countryside should be minimised, butadvanced no new policies to achieve this.In 1997 the Countryside Commission andDepartment of the Environment (DoE)produced a report on the issue, Lightingin the Countryside: Towards GoodPractice. It states (chapter 10):

22 Night blight!

Civilization has fallen out of touch with night. Withlights, we drive the holiness and the beauty of nightback to the forests and the seas; the little villages,the crossroads even, will have none of it. Aremodern folk, perhaps, afraid of night? Do they fearthe vast serenity, the mystery of infinite space, theausterity of stars? Outermost House, Henry Beeston, 1933.

‘Better use of the planning system toinfluence lighting proposals; greaterawareness of the potential adverseimpacts of light amongst developers,manufacturers, retailers and the generalpublic; and improved lighting design andlandscape design are among the mostimportant ways of tackling issues of overlighting. The research shows that with theexception of domestic security lighting…most of the lighting that gives rise toproblems is associated with newdevelopment that does require planningpermission. More effective developmentplan policy and development controlpractice, therefore, should be able toachieve a great deal.’

This report provides good practice advicefor planning officers, drawn from theexperience of some planning authorities.Today it is out of print and only availableonline37.

Light pollution is briefly dealt with inthree of the Government’s PlanningPolicy Guidance (PPG) notes – PPG 17:Planning for Open Space, Sport andRecreation, PPG 23: Planning andPollution Control and PPG 12:Development Plans. However, the issueis not mentioned in the overarchingPPG1: General Policy and Principles,nor in PPG7: The Countryside –Environmental Quality and Economicand Social Development. Nor is itdiscussed in PPG13: Transport, despite

the major contribution of street lights tolight pollution.

PPG 1738 calls on planning authorities(local councils) to ensure that localamenity is protected when consideringapplications for floodlighting on sportsgrounds. This guidance says impact onthe openness of the Green Belt and onthe character of the countryside shouldbe key factors in determining thegranting of planning permission for newfloodlighting. But it is only referring tothe visual impact of lighting towers andcolumns during daylight, not the lightthey produce at night.

PPG 2339 says planning authorities canaddress the issue of light pollution withintheir development plans. And PPG 1240

says that light pollution is one of theenvironmental considerations thatdevelopment plans should take intoaccount, comprehensively andconsistently.

The Government has, then, identified theland use planning system as having aleading role to play in combating lightpollution.

The land use planning system andlightingThe courts have ruled that artificial lightin itself does not constitutedevelopment41. But the actual lightingequipment, and the structures – such as

towers and poles – to which they areattached, can constitute development. Amajor new lighting structure – such as afloodlight tower – generally would tendto require planning permission before itwas erected. A small security light insomeone’s garden, or attached to theirhouse, would not.

Anyone planning to attach exterior lights onto or next to an existing buildingneed only apply for planning permissionif the lights significantly alter theappearance of the building duringdaylight! This hurdle is likely to be sethigher in conservation areas and forlisted buildings, where plannersgenerally have more control overalterations to the appearance ofbuildings – but the fact remains that thelight itself, however bright, requires noplanning permission (unless it can beshown to be an advertisement forcommercial premises).

The planning system does, however, havepower to control exterior lightingassociated with new developments forwhich planning permission is beingsought – as opposed to existingdevelopments. Local authority plannersare able to set conditions on any exteriorlighting proposed as part of a newdevelopment, provided they can givereasonable grounds for doing so. Aplanning authority could impose acurfew for such lighting, or set conditions

Night blight! 23

Original (left) and Full Cut Off (right) lighting at a sports ground

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Glare from illuminated golf driving range, Iford

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which ensure it is kept below a certainlevel of intensity and prevented fromstraying onto neighbouring properties.The authority could justify imposing suchconditions as part of the grant ofplanning permission on the grounds, say,that if they were not met the light couldharm amenity.

Planners will usually be in a strongerposition to set such conditions on newdevelopments if they write policies forlimiting light pollution into their localauthority’s development plans (local,structure and unitary). The Governmentencourages this approach in PPGs 12and 23. At its simplest, such a policywould state that the plan sets out tocontrol light pollution and thatdevelopers should take this issue intoaccount in any development proposalwhich included external lighting.

The Institution of Lighting Engineers hasrecommended that local authoritiespromote the idea of Environmental Zonesin their development plans, to specify thekind of exterior lighting allowable for newdevelopment and appropriate curfews42.Four such zones are proposed: i)intrinsically dark areas such as NationalParks and Areas of Outstanding NaturalBeauty; ii) low brightness areas: rural orsmall village locations; iii) mediumbrightness areas: small town centres orurban locations; iv) high brightnessareas: town and city centres with highlevels of night-time activity.

CPRE carried out its own survey to findout the extent to which planningauthorities were taking light pollutioninto account in drawing up theirdevelopment plans.

Survey of planning authoritiesWe contacted 44 district and unitary(borough) councils in England and fivecounty councils, with all eight Englishregions represented among this sample.

Four of the five county councilssuggested it was not appropriate toinclude clauses on light pollution in theirStructure Plans. Cornwall was theexception. Its structure plan states:

‘Development must be compatible withthe prudent use of natural and builtresources. In particular this should beachieved by…avoiding developmentlikely to lead, directly or indirectly, to therisk of significant levels of pollution orcontamination to air, land or water,including noise and light pollution.43’

Norfolk County Council, which was notone of the five we surveyed, is liaisingwith parish councils to set up a zoningscheme along the lines suggested by theInstitution of Lighting Engineers (seeabove).

County councils do not decide on thegreat majority of development proposals(although they are responsible for manyroad and road lighting schemes in theirrole as Highways Authorities). However,the structure plans they draw up (often in

association with neighbouring unitaryauthorities) set a framework for the localplans of the district and unitaryauthorities as well as influencing thedecisions of those authorities onindividual planning applications. Thereis, then, a strong case for policies onlight pollution at structure plan level. Ifstructure plans are abolished, asproposed in the Planning andCompulsory Purchase Bill which was inParliament at the time this report went topress, we would urge the case for lightpollution policies to be included in theproposed new Regional SpatialStrategies.

Of the district and unitary councils wesurveyed, 39 per cent had specific lightpollution policies in their local plan and7 per cent had some coverage of lightpollution within other policies (e.g.pollution, sports and recreation). Another5 per cent said they had included lightpollution in the review of their plan, 9 percent were considering including it in thefuture and 5 per cent had includedguidance on the reduction of light

24 Night blight!

Growing up in Karnal, India, some of my preciousmemories are sleeping under the stars in summersand being awed by the majesty of the night sky. Mymother pointed out the Milky Way and some of theconstellations; I suspect some times we gazed forever,without blinking for minutes. Something about thenight sky causes us all, young and old, to ponder overthe very basic questions. We are inspired andmotivated. Kalpana Chawla, astronaut who perished when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on 1st February, 2003

pollution, although not as a specificpolicy. Thus 35 per cent of thesedistrict and unitary councils – morethan a third – had no light pollutionpolicies of any kind and no plans tointroduce them.

Of those district and unitary councilswhich had light pollution policies, onequarter mentioned the threat of lightpollution to the intrinsic qualities of thecountryside in their plans. But none ofthem mentioned the benefits of curfewsor ‘zoning’ as recommended by theInstitution of Lighting Engineers (seeabove), or prescribed such schemes.

Regionally, planning authorities in theNorth and the Midlands had the fewestlight pollution policies; there were noneat all in those North East councils wesurveyed. The East of England, SouthEast and South West had the highestfrequency of light pollution policies.

We found a number of policies within thelocal plans that stood out ascomprehensive and encompassedinnovative ways to ensure that dark skiesare preserved.

Harborough District Council, inLeicestershire, has planning guidancespecifically for an industrial estate calledMagna Park, situated on an elevatedplateau in open countryside. This statesthat all lighting schemes shouldilluminate only the interior of each plot,that the positioning of lighting columnsshould take the local landscape intoaccount and, wherever possible, lightingcolumns should be hidden from externalview by landscaping features, that alllighting should be designed to minimiseglare and external spillage and conformto BS5489. A clear hierarchy should beestablished with the minimum lightingaround the outer perimeter of the site.Particular care should be taken wherethis outer perimeter abuts the opencountryside.

The local plan of the Borough ofAllerdale, in Cumbria includes policyEN18 which states :

‘Proposals for development including orlikely to require external lighting shallinclude details of lighting schemes.Such schemes will be expected to

• Be the minimum required to performthe relevant lighting task

• Minimise light spillage and pollution• Include landscaping/screening

measures in edge of town, village andrural areas to screen illuminated areasfrom view from nearby rural areas

• Avoid dazzle or distraction of driverson nearby highways.’

The policy further promotes theimportance of the Institution of LightingEngineers’ Guidance Notes andundertakes to consult EnvironmentalHealth Officers in assessing developmentproposals. This council’s enlightenedpolicy acknowledges the growing threatfrom light pollution to the special qualities,including tranquillity, of the countryside.

Whilst it is encouraging to see somedistrict and unitary councils introducingspecific light pollution policies, theirlocal plans can also tackle this problemby including it among other developmentcontrol policies. For example, theBorough of Macclesfield in Cheshire hasPolicy DC63, Floodlighting, which states:

‘Proposals for floodlighting of sportsfacilities will be permitted where

• There is no significant adverse impacton the landscape in terms of thesensitivity of a given area to theintroduction of exterior lighting (nighttime), the effect of lighting on thevisual character of the landscape orbuilt environment in terms of siting andthe external landform (day time), theeffect on historical or wildlife features

• There is no significant adverse impacton the amenity of residents

• The safety of transport users is notadversely affected

• The proposal does not represent anunacceptably adverse intensificationof use of the application site.’

Night blight! 25

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In addition, there may be a need toconsider the impact on special interestgroups such as astronomers. TheBorough Council may impose planningconditions to influence the design oflighting installations and to mitigatetheir impacts.

In Suffolk Coastal District,Supplementary Planning Guidance hasbeen prepared on recreationalfloodlighting. The Council’s approach is

‘• To resist proposals which wouldintroduce major new lighting sourcesinto rural areas

• To judge urban proposals and those inlarger villages in terms of the impactof the lighting columns themselves,residential amenity and the impact onconservation areas

• To resist proposals in smaller villages,unless for a single court or rink;

• To only permit proposals in thecountryside in urban fringe locations.’

Regional Planning Guidance (and, wepresume, the Regional Spatial Strategieswhich are proposed to replace it) canalso cover light pollution. Followingrepresentations made by CPRE at thePublic Examination stage, the RegionalPlanning Guidance for the South West ofEngland published in 2001 directs local

authorities and other agencies, in theirplans, policies and proposals to ‘…takemeasures to protect the character of thecountryside and the environmentalfeatures that contribute towards thatcharacter, including the minimisation oflight pollution.’

Planning – what more should bedone?Our survey, and the experience of darkskies campaigners from the BritishAstronomical Association, suggests mostplanning authorities are aware of lightpollution and have begun to introducedevelopment plan policies to control it.Fortunately, many applications fordevelopment that would introduce brightfloodlighting into the countryside arerejected44. But that does not make usconfident that the planning system canprevent the further spread of lightpollution.

Why? Because a substantial minority ofcouncils have no policies. And for thosethat do, there remain questions aboutimplementation. Planners may fail tomake developers demonstrate compliancewith anti-light pollution policies when theyconsider their planning applications. Orthey may fail to set the necessaryconditions on external lighting, or fail totake enforcement action when conditions

are not complied with. Planningenforcement action against intrusivelighting may be impossible in the absenceof such conditions. Environmentalassessments carried out for light pollutionat the planning application stage may bedeficient, or entirely absent, and themethodology (produced by the developeror the council) unsatisfactory.

Our survey, and Government-commissioned research, both indicatethat planning authorities want betterguidance on controlling light pollution.45

The researchers recommend thatGovernment give planning authoritiesguidance on how to handle planningapplications involving floodlighting.Planners should

• Request information on the nature ofany illumination proposed, the typesof light source, the size of the area tobe lit, the location, height and colourof lighting columns, and proposedhours of use

• Consider particularly theenvironmental effect of introducingmajor new light sources into areaswith no existing background lighting

• Seek to minimise the impact of...lightpollution from lighting systems by theuse of conditions

But even if Government planningguidance on light pollution is improved –and it should be – the fact remains thatthe land use planning system has littleability to control new exterior lighting onexisting developments. Nor does it haveany ability to control new street lightingon new and existing roads (although itcould, for instance, set conditions forstreet lighting on a new housing estate).

The situation has been summarised thus:‘Environmental protection is the sum ofsmall concerns; this is the essence ofsustainable development, which requires

26 Night blight!

Hazy glow haloes Portsmouth and the M27

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that decisions throughout society aretaken with proper regard to theirenvironmental impact. The planningsystem goes some way to achieving this,but it was never designed to bear the fullresponsibility for the control of lightpollution.46’

We propose that Government amendsplanning law so as to introduceregulations for exterior lighting similarto those that currently cover outdooradvertising47 including the designationof areas of special control. This wouldensure sensitive areas could be givenprotection. Consent would be requiredfrom the local planning authority beforenew lighting could be installed. Using themodel of the ‘Advertisements’ clause inthe Town and Country Planning Act199048 we propose legislation shouldstate that ‘Regulations under this Actshall make provision for restricting orregulating the use of external lighting sofar as appears to the Secretary of Stateto be expedient in the interests ofamenity or public safety’. This would alsoprovide for enforcement control, whichcould include prosecution and fines andgive power to local authorities for theremoval of unauthorised lights.

The advantages of these new provisionsare that

• It would provide a self contained codethrough regulations for the control oflighting

• It would not depend on the lightingconstituting development, requiringplanning permission or constituting anuisance. The nature of lightingrequiring specific consent would bedefined in the regulations

• If consent is granted it could be madesubject to conditions e.g. limiting thehours

• Having a code set out in regulations ismore flexible than if set out in primarylegislation

• It allows for the designation of areas ofspecial control which would receiveextra protection against intrusivelighting

• There is a precedent for this approachin the regime applicable toadvertisements.

Could people have a legal redressagainst light pollution?The law has long recognised somethingakin to a right to light. If someone buildssomething which massively curtails theamount of daylight entering your home,you can seek redress through the courts.But when a neighbour causes artificiallight to stream into your property throughthe night there is, at present, no right todark.

NuisanceLight pollution could be better controlledif it were legally defined as a StatutoryNuisance, which builds on the commonlaw concept of nuisance. StatutoryNuisance is defined in public healthlegislation, which empowers localauthority environmental health officersto take action against categories ofnuisance such as smoke and fumes,dust, smells and noise, working through the criminal courts. An attemptwas made to have floodlighting andsecurity lighting included as a type ofStatutory Nuisance during the passage of the Bill which became theEnvironmental Protection Act 1990, but this failed.

It is conceivable that light pollution couldbe capable of constituting a statutorynuisance under the first, generalcategory set out in the Act: ‘any premisesin such a state as to be prejudicial tohealth or a nuisance’. But sinceParliament’s decision was that lightpollution should not be included as astatutory nuisance in the legislation,most legal opinion holds that anyprosecution on these grounds would fail.

People whose lives are being harmed bylight pollution could take action in thecivil courts against whoever isresponsible for their suffering, on thebasis that the light amounts to a privatenuisance. Private nuisance arises from asubstantial interference with anindividual’s use and enjoyment of her orhis property. A judge could order theindividual or firm responsible for the lightto remove it, or take some other actionthat gives relief to the plaintiff. In reality,however, such legal actions are very rarebecause the ‘upfront’ costs for theplaintiff will usually be high and theprospects of success highly uncertain.

Night blight! 27

‘The treasures hidden in the heavens are so rich that the human mind shall neverbe lacking in fresh nourishment.’Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

Obtrusive floodlight illuminates neighbouringpremises, Peak District

Environmental Resources M

anagement Ltd

Light pollution might also, in theory, bedealt with as a ‘public nuisance’,meaning one which materially affects thecomfort and convenience of a largegroup of people. A public nuisance is acriminal offence and the action may bebrought by the Attorney General or alocal authority. We know of no suchaction ever taken regarding lightpollution, nor are any in prospect.

To sum up, Environmental Health Officersand individual complainants either lackknowledge of the legal options againstlight pollution on nuisance grounds or,quite reasonably, they have littleconfidence that the law can deal with theissue effectively – notwithstanding theoccasional, rare successful case49.

However, the Government was – at thetime of writing this report – considering theoption of introducing legal controls on lightpollution. It opened its consultation on thisissue with two documents focussed mainlyon issues of improving the quality of lifeand the environment in towns and cities,both launched at the Government’s UrbanSummit in late 2002.

One of these consultation papers, LivingPlaces – Cleaner, Safer, Greener,suggests the possibility of ‘creating newpowers for local authorities to deal withthe detrimental effects of light pollution’50.It acknowledges that ‘noise, air and lightpollution affect the physical andpsychological well-being of residents’51. Itssister publication Living Places – Power,Rights and Responsibilities52 reviews thelegislative framework for providing andmaintaining clean and safe public spaces.So far as light pollution is concerned, thereport offers the following ‘options fordiscussion’.

(a) New regulations for positioning ofexternal lighting (other than street lights)and the power for local authorities toserve statutory nuisance abatementnotices on owners/occupiers of

land/property with contravening lighting,along with an additional power tointervene as a last resort to takeremedial action and recover costs. Localauthorities would be under a duty to usethese powers when necessary and therewould be mechanisms in place forindividuals and community groups toseek redress.

(b) Voluntary agreements atneighbourhood level facilitated by localauthority through partnershiparrangements (e.g. Local StrategicPartnerships and sub-groups) and acode of practice for positioning ofexternal lighting.

Voluntary agreements would, we fear,have little impact on the rapid growth inlight pollution, so we would favour thefirst of these options in the absence of

changes in planning law as describedabove. It would give local authorities aspecified power to deal with nuisancelighting in much the same way as othernuisance issues, such as noise and dust.

Building RegulationsThe Building Regulations have been drawnup under the Building Act 1984, and areperiodically revised, to ensure that newand refurbished buildings meet minimumenvironmental, health and safetystandards. They now cover standards ofinternal lighting within some types ofbuilding. The Government should considerwhether the Building Regulations shouldnow be widened to cover the exteriorlighting of buildings, setting standardswhich ensured that light pollution wasminimised while lighting ‘fit for purpose’could be achieved.

28 Night blight!

Winter StarsI went out at night alone;The young blood flowing beyond the seaSeemed to have drenched my spirit’s wings.I bore my sorrow heavily.But when I lifted up my headFrom shadows shaken on the snow,I saw Orion in the eastBurn steadily as long ago.From windows in my father’s house,Dreaming my dreams on winter nights,I watched Orion as a girlAbove another city’s lights.Years go, dreams go, and youth goes too,The world’s heart breaks beneath its wars,All things are changed, save in the eastThe faithful beauty of the stars.Sara Teasdale, 1884-1933

We can all:• Ensure we don’t waste light outside

our homes: angle outdoor lightsdownwards; use minimum wattagebulbs; fit hoods or shields to minimiselight spill; ensure they are switched ononly when needed.

• Approach neighbours – be theyhouseholds or businesses – with overlybright security lights and politely askthem to angle them downwards, orshield them, or fit a passive infra redsensor or a lower wattage bulb. Givethem a copy of Night blight!, our leafletavailable from CPRE Publications.

• Contact local MPs, urging them topress the Government to act. Sendthem a copy of our leaflet.

• Lobby your local council. Contactofficers and councillors responsiblefor highways and land use planning,make them aware of light pollution intheir area (our satellite data is astarting point) and urge them toimplement the measures and policiesset out in this report. Send them acopy of our leaflet.

• Contact local DIY stores or theirheadquarters and ask them to stocksecurity lights which minimise lightpollution.

DIY superstores and other retailersshould:• Withdraw the more powerful, 300 to

500 watt security floodlights from

their shelves – there’s no need forthese anti-social, environmentally-unfriendly products to be sold in themass market. We suggest a maximumof 150 watts, in line with theInstitution of Lighting Engineers’recommendation.

• Ensure information is available oninstallation methods that minimiselight pollution – in signage next to theproduct on the shelves as well as inthe packaging.

Property developers, owners ofcommercial premises, lightingmanufacturers, specifiers andinstallers should:• Recognise that light pollution is

everybody’s problem, including their’s,and take the issue properly intoaccount whenever exterior lighting isconsidered.

The Highways Agency, which isresponsible for construction andmaintenance of trunk roads andmotorways, should:• Set a target date for replacing all

existing road lighting with low lightpollution, ‘Full Cut Off’ lighting whichcuts out light going upwards.

• Bring forward the replacement oflighting at the most overlit junctions inboth urban and rural areas andconsider whether more rural stretchesof its network currently lit with

conventional road lighting could havesolar-powered LED (light emittingdiodes) studs (rather like cat’s eyes)installed instead.

• Consult communities affected by anynecessary new road lighting schemesabout its impact and how this may beminimised.

• Encourage more innovativeapproaches to lighting large, harshlylit areas like junctions. For example,one tall downward angled light maycreate less light pollution than severalsmaller lights.

Local Authorities light the rest of theroad network and also have animportant influence as planningauthorities. They should:• Introduce a policy to control light

pollution into their planning policies.This should include:

– insisting on light pollutionassessment at the planning stageof new developments. Badlydesigned or over lit schemesshould be sent back to theapplicant for modification;

– setting limits on light pollution,including curfews, according to theremoteness, darkness or otherspecial qualities of the area. Thereshould be a strong presumptionagainst any powerful and intrusiveexterior lighting schemes in or onthe edge of open countryside.

There’s not enough awareness about light pollution and no policies currently inplace capable of halting its rapid growth. It’s not recognised in law as a pollutant ora nuisance. We propose the following action.

Conclusion –suggested actions

Night blight! 29

• Ensure the environmental statementsrequired for major developmentschemes address light pollution.

• Set targets for replacing all their streetand road lights with less light pollutingtypes. Consider using solar poweredLED studs (see above) instead of streetlighting on rural roads. Localauthorities should address theseissues in their Local Transport Plan.

• Ensure consultation takes place withlocal residents when installing anynew road lighting.

• Consider reducing the number of roadand street lights in over-lit areas aspart of any replacement programme.

Government should:• Develop indicators of light pollution

and then set targets to prevent theproblem getting worse. Light pollution– or its absence – could be one of theIndicators of Countryside Qualitywhich the Government has said itintends to develop.53 Satellite datasuch as that featured here couldprovide the basis for such indicators.

• Set up a cross-departmental groupcharged with drawing up the most costeffective and practical policies forhalting the growth in light pollution.Options include 1) defining lightpollution as a Statutory Nuisance anddrawing up the regulations which wouldenable local authority EnvironmentalHealth Officers to deal with it; 2)introducing new regulations throughland use planning legislation to allowplanning authorities to control exterior

lighting, for example by defining areasof special control over exterior lighting(we propose the Outdoors AdvertisingRegulations as a model); 3) amendingBuilding Regulations to cover externallighting of buildings.

• Ensure the Government’s proposedPlanning Policy Statements54 willaddress light pollution and acknowledgethe importance of dark landscapes tocountryside quality and character;

• Ensure policies of all Governmentdepartments and the policies andoperations of public agencies takeaccount of the need to tackle lightpollution – including the HighwaysAgency and bodies such as theMillennium Commission and the sportscouncils for National Lottery-fundedprojects.

• Ensure highways authorities developpolicies to minimise light pollutionassociated with road and street lightsin the next revision of Full LocalTransport Plans.

30 Night blight!

We propose that the Government should promote a public

debate on the idea of a voluntary ‘national switch off’ for part

of a night when there is a spectacular event in the heavens,

such as a comet appearing at its brightest or a meteor shower.

If all exterior lights were switched off between prearranged

and extensively publicised hours, the nation could come

together to gaze at the night sky. This is an exciting but

controversial proposal, and it would need to be extensively

debated. The switch-off could be cancelled if most of the

country was covered in cloud on the night!

It isn’t too late to turn the tide. Light pollution may still be

getting worse, but as more and more people become aware of

what we are losing so the momentum for change will grow. The

battle is only beginning and one day, later in this new century,

our children and our children’s children may thank us for

bringing back the Milky Way.The Milky Way

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1 The quotation comes from a letter from the painterto his brother Theo, commenting on what was tobecome one of his most famous paintings, StarryNight. From the Collected Correspondence,1853-90, Bullfinch Press (2000).

2 Orange predominates at present but will notnecessarily do so in the future as white CeramicMetal Discharge and High Pressure Sodium streetlights – which cast a pink, rather than orange,glow – replace the orange glare of low pressuresodium street lights.

3 The data came from the U.S. Air Force DefenceMeteorological Satellite Program OperationalLinescan System. The 1992-93 data came fromDMSP satellite F-10. The 2000 data came fromDMSP F-15.

4 Personal communication by C D Elvidge, NOAANational Geophysical Data Center, Boulder,Colorada, USA.

5 Ibid.6 See www.cpre.org.uk, and visit the 'our views'

section for information on Tranquil Area maps.7 The first figure is from Institution of Lighting

Engineers (ILE), Protecting a Vital Asset, October2000. The second is an unpublished 2002Department for Transport estimate based onreturns from highway authorities; it excludes lightsin car parks.

8 Institution of Lighting Engineers (ILE), GuidanceNotes for the Reduction of Light Pollution, 1994.

9 Highways Agency, Department standard TD30/87.10 Transport 2010: The Ten Year Plan, DETR, 2000.11 AMA Research, The UK Lighting Market Report,

2002.12 Mizon, B, Light Pollution: responses and

remedies, Springer, 2001. p 3013 Communication from Bob Mizon, UK Co-

ordinator, British Astronomical AssociationCampaign for Dark Skies.

14 See www.2hd.co.uk15 In 1999 a Planning Inspector ruled that two

7,000 watt searchlights shining into the night skyfrom a night club in Guildford, Surrey wereadvertisements, therefore needed local planningauthority consent, did not have it and shouldtherefore be switched off. Her decision followed apublic inquiry. She described the beams as 'analien presence' in the sky when seen from

surrounding countryside.16 See, for instance, Royal Fine Art Commission,

Lighting our Darkness, 1994.17 Mizon, B, Light Pollution: responses and

remedies, Springer, 2001, p. 3218 Cinzano, P, Falchi, F, Elvidge, C D, The first World

Atlas of the artificial night sky brightness,Mon.Not.R.Astron.Soc. 328, 689-707, 2001.

19 See www.cieh.org/about/policy/papers/light.htm20 Mizon, B, Light Pollution: responses and

remedies, Springer, 2001, p. 5221 Washington Post, Thursday 31 October 2002, p.

B0422 See www.glowworms.org.uk23 Murray, I J, Plainis, S, Chauhan, K, Charman, W N,

Road traffic accidents: the impact of lighting,The Lighting Journal, 63 (3), pp. 42-46, 1998.

24 The influence of street lighting on crime andfear of crime, Home Office Crime PreventionPaper No. 28, Stephen Atkins, Sohail Husain andAngele Storey (1991) and The effect of betterstreet lighting on crime and the fear of crime,Malcolm Ramsey, Crime Prevention Unit PaperNo.29, 1991.

25 Effects of improved street lighting on crime: asystematic review, David Farrington andBrandon Welsh, Home Office Research Study251, 2002.

26 http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/burglary45.htm27 Our countryside: the future – a fair deal for

rural England, The Stationary Office, 200028 Chapter 9, 9.4.4, Ibid.29 See www.astro.cz/darksky/30 The Institution of Lighting Engineers (ILE),

Guidance Notes for the Reduction of LightPollution, 1994.

31 See www.ile.org.uk32 The Institution of Lighting Engineers (ILE),

Guidance Notes for the Reduction of LightPollution, 1994.

33 Mizon, B, Light Pollution: responses andremedies, Springer, 2001, p. 49

34 In this survey we did not include ornamentalgarden lighting or lights less than 75 watts.

35 See www.environment-agency.gov.uk/yourenv/eff/pollution/

36 Rural England: A Nation Committed to a LivingCountryside, MAFF and DoE, HMSO, 1995.

37 See www.planning.odpm.gov.uk/litc38 PPG 17: Planning for Open Space, Sport and

Recreation, ODPM, 2002, para 19.39 PPG 23: Planning and Pollution Control, ODPM,

1994, para 2.18.40 PPG 12: Development Plans, ODPM, 1999, para

4.4.41 PQ Hansards, 19 September 2002, column

286W. Also see Jewkes, P, Light Pollution: areview of the law in Journal of Planning andEnvironmental Law, January 1998, p. 12.

42 The Institution of Lighting Engineers (ILE),Guidance Notes for the Reduction of LightPollution, 1994, p. 3.

43 Cornwall Structure Plan, Policy 4: Use ofResources

44 Research commissioned by ODPM found, forinstance, that 42 per cent of proposals for golfdriving ranges were approved by local authoritiesand only 18 per cent of appeals were upheld. TheEffectiveness of Planning Policy Guidance onSport and Recreation, ODPM, 2001.

45 Ibid.46 Jewkes, P, Light Pollution: a review of the law in

Journal of Planning and Environmental Law,January 1998, p. 22.

47 The Control of Advertisement Regulations 1992.48 Part III, Section 220.49 For a useful review see Jewkes, P, Light Pollution:

a review of the law in Journal of Planning andEnvironmental Law, January 1998.

50 Living Places – Cleaner, Safer, Greener, ODPM,2002, p. 56

51 Living Places – Cleaner, Safer, Greener, ODPM,2002, p. 12

52 Living Places – Powers, Rights andResponsibilities, Department for theEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2002.

53 Our countryside: the future – a fair deal forrural England, MAFF, DETR, TSO, 14.4.2, p. 166,2000.

54 The Government intends Planning PolicyStatements to replace the current Planning PolicyGuidance Notes. The intention is set out in thePlanning and Compulsory Purchase Bill whichwas making its way through the Houses ofParliament when this report was completed.

Lighting in the Countryside: towards good practice, ODPM, 1997www.planning.odpm.gov.uk/litc/

Road lighting and the Environment, DOT, 1993

ILE Guidance Notes for the Reduction of Light Pollution, Institute of Lighting Engineers, 2000

Light Pollution. Responses and Remedies, Mizon, B, Springer Verlag, 2001

Lighting our Darkness, Royal Fine Art Commission, 1994

Suggested readingCPRE: www.cpre.org.uk

Campaign for Dark Skies: www.dark-skies.org

Institution of Lighting Engineers: www.ile.org.uk

International Dark-Sky Association: www.darksky.org/

Websites to visit

Night blight! 31

Endnotes

The British Astronomical Association is the UK's largest astronomical body, with some

3,000 members. Its Campaign for Dark Skies, which has 119 local officers across the

UK, has worked since 1989 against light pollution. The simple aim of the campaign is:

‘The right amount of light, and only where needed’.

Campaign for Dark Skies38 The Vineries, Colehill, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 2PX

Website: www.dark-skies.org

The Campaign to Protect Rural England promotes the beauty,tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging thesustainable use of land and other natural resources in town andcountry. We promote positive solutions for the long-term future of thecountryside and to ensure change values its natural and builtenvironment. Our Patron is Her Majesty The Queen. We have 59,000supporters, a branch in every county, nine regional groups, over 200local groups and a national office in central London. Membership isopen to all. Formed in 1926, CPRE is a powerful combination ofeffective local action and strong national campaigning. Our Presidentis Sir Max Hastings.

CPRE128 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SW

Tel: 020 7981 2800 Fax: 020 7981 2899

Email: info@cpre.org.uk Web site: cpre.org.uk

CPRE is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England, number 4302973.

Registered charity number: 1089685

We thank the National Geophysical Data Center of the National Oceanographic and

Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado, USA, for providing us with data. Land Use

Consultants and Nigel Press Associates used this data to prepare the maps and table.

2003

ISBN: 1 902786 59 9