British Astronomical Association

Light to be a Statutory Nuisance

Bob Mizon, Campaign for Dark Skies, reports that light will join other forms of intrusion (e.g. noise) as a statutory nuisance in the next session of Parliament as part of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill. No longer will sports grounds, commercial premises and inconsiderate neighbours be able with impunity to flood adjoining premises (and by extension, the night sky) with light.

This follows in a direct chain of events from the Science and Technology Select Committee's deliberations on light pollution in 2003, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's decision to insert an additional light pollution clause in Planning Policy Statement 23, and  DEFRA's 2004 consultation paper on the subject. CfDS was a principal contributor to all these initiatives, and also thanks the CPRE for their Night Blight Campaign 2003, which did much to reinforce the astronomers' efforts.

For more details see the CfDS website www.dark-skies.org