The DEFRA guidance on the provisions in The Cleaner Neighbourhoods & Environment Act on 'Light as a Statutory Nuisance' introduced in April 2006 can be found here on the DEFRA web site.

Update 12th October 2006

If you want to measure how bad the light pollution is at your observing location have a look at the Skyobjects site. The only problem is that you need to take some images at a site where there is very little light pollution and also require that you have a SBIG camera. A more general version is on Stan Moore's website here.

Update 2nd September 2006

It's not only Croydon that has a problem with light pollution - have a look here for my experiences with Light Trespass & Light Pollution from street lights in the adjacent London Borough of Sutton.

Update 18th June 2006   ---      Globe at Night - Global Light Pollution Survey - 2006 and 2007

Update 29th April 2006

Not directly related to Croydon or the UK but The American National Parks Service are concerned about the impact of light pollution on the National Parks in the USA. One interesting statement quoted is that they can see the effects of light pollution from cities 300 miles away. More details on the National Park Service Natural Lightscapes Monitoring & Data page. This page has a description of the method they employ to monitor light pollution, this system is calibrated by the use of intensity measurements of stars in the image.

Update 1st April 2006

Further Research has confirmed that the clause (section 102) in the Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act 2005 relating to making light pollution a Statutory Nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 will come into force on the 6th April 2006. The document showing when sections are expected to come into effect is located on the DEFRA web site here. More important the guidance on the application of the new law is here on the DEFRA Web site.

The first point of contact for enforcement is your Local Authorities Environmental Protection Department. If they fail to take action you can bring a private prosecution for Nuisance under (s) 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Let us know how you get on !

Purley Way Lighting & Croydon Airport

One could say that Croydon was the leader in light pollution from roads - the road past Croydon Airport 'The Purley Way' (A23) was the first road to be lit with Sodium Street Lights in the country. These were installed by Phillips in 1932. The section to the North of the Airport was lit slightly later with lamps suspended from wires above the centre of the road. I can vaguely remember these from my childhood when we drove across the road on our way home. At the time they seemed very bright compared with the lights in the surrounding major roads. I suppose we would hardly notice they were on against the sky glow today. A bit of the history of the Sodium Street lights on the Purley Way can be seen on the Lamptech website. Also of local light pollution interest is that Croydon Airport used to have a lighthouse or visual beacon mounted on the tower of the waterworks opposite the aerodrome. I have not seen any details of this on the web but have a vague recollection of seeing the beam from my Grandparents house in South Croydon one night.

Update Tuesday 21st March 2006.

It appears that the clause (section 102) in the Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act 2005 relating to making light pollution a Statutory Nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 will come into force on the 6th April 2006 according to information here on the CPRE web site. The government were going to publish guidance for Local Environmental Health Officers but at this time it does not appear to be on the government web sites.

Remember:

Clause 102 of the Bill amends section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to include ‘artificial light emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance’. Subsection (4) lists those premises that are excluded:

• airports

• harbour premises

• railway premises

• tramway premises

• a bus station and any associated facilities

• a public service vehicle operating centre

• a goods vehicle operating centre

• a lighthouse

• a prison

That means you can't complain about the awful lights on the Croydon Tramlink Stops ( assuming  tram stops are tramway premises in Law). The situation with street lighting is very unclear there seems to be a debate if a street is a premise or not - if it is proved to be a premise one can have the interesting effect of one part of the council investigating another for braking the act. If the council does not wish to act it is possible to take out a private prosecution in a magistrates court under the Environmental Protection Act. - an interesting challenge ! To succeed you would need to prove that a street is in fact a premise and that the artificial light emitted from premises is prejudicial to health or a nuisance.

Section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ( That is modified by S102 of the Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act 2005) defines premises as ' "premises" includes land and, subject to subsection (12) below, any vessel; '. This MAY be sufficient to define streets (that are built on land) as premises for the purpose of light pollution - a response from legal experts would be appreciated.

If anyone has any more information on successful prosecutions, publication of the guidance or a legal precedent that makes a road as a premise please let me know.

John Murrell - details on our contacts page.

A small success in the fight against light pollution in the area of our observatory has been the inclusion of a section about light pollution in the Supplemental Planning Guidance for Kenley Aerodrome. The relevant section is as follows:

'2.2.4 Local Views and Light Pollution

Views into and out of the airfield should be protected and enhanced. Excessive lighting associated with any new developments could detract from the character of the Conservation Area and could seriously affect the operation of the observatory to the west of the airfield.'

The complete document can be found here.

Update Monday, October 31, 2005

Consultation on ' Draft Guidance on the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005'

DEFRA have issued draft guidance on the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 which includes a section on how to apply the 'Light Pollution' section of the act when it becomes law. The paper is at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/clean-neighbourhood05/consultation-cleanenv.pdf .

More details on the consultation process are here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/clean-neighbourhood05/ . You will note that they have not even bothered to consult The Croydon Astronomical Society despite the fact that we submitted evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee's investigation into Light Pollution and Astronomy (See below). If you wish to comment on the guidance follow the instructions on the DEFRA page, please note that the guidance cannot change the law as written in the act. The guidance is an interpretation of the act and cannot conflict with it however there is room for some changes to be encouraged. In the end of the day it is of course up to the courts to interpret what the act says.

When the consultation on the guidance is complete - responses are required by Monday 2nd January 2006, the final guidance will then be published at an unspecified date and then the appropriate sections of the act will become law when the Secretary of State gets round to making the order ! It was originally suggested that the section on Light Pollution would come into effect in April 2006 but it will be interesting to see if this happens. See the guidance at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localenv/leqbill/commencement-qa.pdf

Light Pollution is included in the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act

It appears that the Governments 'Clean Neighbourhoods & Environments Bill' has been passed by Parliament and has received Royal Assent. However while some of the sections will come into effect in the next few weeks the majority of the bill including the section that makes light pollution a 'Statutory nuisance' require the government ( whoever that may be !) to issue an order before they take effect. The official view of the date on the DEFRA web site is as follows:

"Q. When will the other measures in the Act come into effect?

A. We are aiming for the other measures in the Act to come into effect in 2006, once all the necessary guidance and regulations have been produced. The exact date will be a decision for the new Government formed after the general election, but is unlikely to be any earlier than April 2006."

So we may have to wait another year !

More details here from the DEFRA web site.

Proposal that Light Pollution is included in the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill