As a founder member and director of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), which has 10,000 members worldwide, I am writing to the Science and Technology Committee on behalf of all our members resident in the United Kingdom, and for the interest of all of our other members worldwide. The Committee has invited submissions from interested parties on the subject of "light pollution and astronomy", with particular reference to the following specific questions:

  1.  What has been the impact of light pollution on UK astronomy?

  2.  Are current planning guidelines strong enough to protect against light pollution?

  3.  Are planning guidelines being applied and enforced effectively?

  4.  Is light measurable in such a way as to make legally enforceable regulatory controls feasible?

  5.  Are further controls on the design of lighting necessary?

  The International Dark-Sky Association is the world's largest body pursuing the interests of all those who wish to preserve the beauty of the environment above. The starry night sky is threatened nowadays by wasted light as it has never been threatened before. The dark sky is of special scientific interest and it needs greater protection than that currently afforded to it by the legal and planning structures in the UK.

  Environmentally sensitive lighting, that is, lighting which is of an appropriate brightness for the task, and falls only where and when it is needed, is certainly quite possible, and of much greater general benefit to everyone than uncontrolled and over-bright lighting. A survey by the British Astronomical Association (BAA), carried out in 1990, concluded that more than 90% of the people of Britain experience sky glow to some degree.

  Professional astronomy has long ago deserted light-polluted countries to darker places such as Hawaii, Chile, and the Canary Islands; but of equal concern is the fact that the ordinary observer, whether or not one is an amateur astronomer, is robbed of the sight of the starry sky, a sight which has motivated and inspired the human race for millions of years. In astronomy, amateurs contribute much to original research.

  Whether they are denied the stars because of sky glow or by direct light trespass from unregulated exterior lamp shining directly into their premises, would-be observers of the heavens and the general public, including students, should have some protection from such intrusion, and some redress if it occurs.

  Current planning guidelines in the UK, according to members of our UK counterpart organisation, the BAA Campaign for Dark Skies, lack the power of enforcement on existing and small-scale schemes, and there is little that local administration officers can do about complaints from victims of sky glow and light intrusion. These people should not have to seek redress in courts of law, and spend large amounts doing so, to retrieve the tranquillity of the natural night. Light pollution should be included in the law of nuisance, and in the Control of Pollution Act as a potential pollutant, as it so often is today.

  In all the locales in the USA and other countries where light pollution control has been an issue, it has been found easy to measure these adverse effects, by standard methods, so that regulatory controls are feasible. We know it works.

  Controls on the design of lighting are certainly necessary. Leaving aside the question of the visibility of the starry sky, the waste and environmental damage which lamps such as globes and sideways-facing types cause cannot be tolerated in a world where energy considerations are looming ever-larger, and in countries which have signed up to international protocols and agreements on sustainability and energy conservation.

  Given these facts, the IDA urges the Parliamentary Select Committee to think long and hard in their deliberations about the damage wrought by ill directed and over-bright lights. May they indicate to Parliament a positive direction for lighting which illuminates without damaging the environmental and without blighting lives.

25 February 2003