INTRODUCTION

  This observer is a Chemist employed in pharmaceutical industry. Astronomy is his main amateur interest. He joined the British Astronomical Association in 1973, and the Maidenhead Astronomical Society in 1968 and is currently the Secretary at Maidenhead AS.

  His interest in astronomy and the sciences was assisted by a truly amazing view of the winter night sky at the age of 14 years, while visiting relatives living near the south coast in 1965 two years before sitting `O'levels. On that evening the whole outline of Orion was "masked" with many fainter stars shining boldly like diamonds on black velvet. Now, from the same place, Orion is masked by light pollution from street lights, and the fainter stars are difficult to see.

  This observer graduated from Salford University in 1975. During this period he was one of many active members of the Salford Astronomical Society. Among their interests was Astronomical Education and the observation and recording of "deep sky objects", and to further these interests there was a campaign to improve the surrounding road lighting. Light pollution was a major difficulty but I believe they had some success with shielding.

  When I re-joined the Maidenhead Astronomical Society in 1978 there was a reasonable good light-pollution-free sky for within this urban area. However, since then, I have had to move progressively further from town to reduce the impact of light pollution. I have also noticed a gradual but progressive reduction in the number of nights which I consider to be dark with a visual limiting magnitude better than five. This means that the Milky Way is no longer a feature of the night sky. This is a considerable loss.

  Knowl Hill (height 85m) commands extensive views of light pollution. The location of this observatory is three miles West of Maidenhead, five miles East of Reading and five miles North of Bracknell in what this observer considers to be an island of comparative freedom from severe light pollution. One thing is sure, most of the sky glow is from street lighting, sports grounds, local security lamps and flood lit buildings. A very low percentage of main road street lights are of Full Cut-Off (FCO) design. The Eastern sky is dominated by the flow of Maidenhead, Slough and London as far as Canary Wharf (30 miles) up to an altitude of 30 degrees elevation. There are no street lights in Knowl Hill Common and yet the ground is lit by indirect lighting which originates from the product of millions of watts of waste light.

  I would now like to address the specific questions raised.

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

  From my experience as an amateur using his naked eye, the effect is considerable and continues to be a serious problem. We need to vigorously attack the cause and not treat the effect by using high tech, solutions like expensive filters, CCD cameras or moving house! Members of my local Astronomical Society visit this semi-rural observatory once a month to take advantage of the darker sky because they are unable to do so in a brighter environment although the actual sky brightness on a dry and transparent night is not significantly different away from street lights. However, a dry atmosphere in the UK occurs in only roughly 2% of observing nights (7/365). The other 98% of nights reflect back the light pollution from artificial light sources.

  For scientific astronomical contributions. I use an image intensifier and video camera to record meteor showers. I have noticed more background noise from stray light increasing over the past 10 years during which I have used this equipment. This is difficult to quantify, as atmospheric dust and moisture conditions are a contributing factor, however, the observation requires a wide angle lens and there are now fewer dark areas to point the camera at compared to when I began this work. Recently the sky to my north was spoiled by orange security lights as Grundons Land Fill site. There are only two flood lights but they are wall mounted and the upward waste light ratio (UWLR) is 50%. No planning permission is required and there is no enforcement only "guide lines". Uncontrolled security lighting is common to all parts of the UK. Some lighting may have improved but the majority has not in my estimation. Fig 1 provides examples available from any DIY store (not printed).

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

  My answer is no. I mounted a campaign to remove car park flood lighting at a Golf Course in direct view of this Observatory. (Appendix 2) (not printed). The rights were erected without planning consent and yet it took 12 months to come to a poor compromise solution. Local residents were involved and we obtained press coverage (Appendix 3) (not printed). The golf course was within the Wokingham planning authority which applied an enforcement notice to have them switched off. Two Parish Councils were involved because the location of the car park was on the boundary. There was disagreement on the final lighting plan. But it was granted. There is now a curfew and light are off after 11.30pm. The lighting adopted for the car-park could easily have been "sky friendly". There is also no legislation to prevent light being directed outside the owners property. (see letter Appendix 9) (not printed).

  The aspects of the planning process involving lighting which are deficient as I see it are:

  1.  The applicant has no strict guide lines on the type of exterior lighting he should use, other than from a cost of functional aspect. He may have little regard for intensity, direction, or environment impact.

  2.  The applicant was not fed any advice from the council. Although I wrote letters of encouragement, no sky friendly lighting was used—with the exception of the removal of "Moon" lanterns and decorative up-lighters. (Appendix 3, Image 5) (not printed).

  3.  The applicant made several revisions to his plans which would have been quite unnecessary had been a rigorous planning guide backed up by the law.

  4.  There is no standard procedure whereby the lighting level is measured with a flux meter and compared with previously adopted figures for the area—eg "low district brightness". I was invited by the Parish Council to comment on a different application near an air-field. There was more emphasis on measuring flux which resulted in much less wasted light. This was because FCO were adopted in the car park.

  5.  There are no guidelines for security lights.

  6.  The replacement of street lights (except on motorways) by Full Cut Off designs in this area is very slow.

  7.  Some installations are still inefficient. Stronger emphasis should be placed on replacement with FCO.

  8.  Companies like Sainsbury's, PC World and Currys use FCO car park lighting (Fig 6) (not printed) while the approach roads are not!

3.  Are planning guidelines being applied and enforced effectively?

  From my experience I would say yes, as far as current guidelines go.

  1.  Flood lighting of sports venues (public and private) are being followed and upheld (Appendix 4 and 5) (not printed). However, the enforcement is done at public expense and time due to the appeals process. If guidelines on light spill and light pollution were improved, then installations would never get as far as the drawing board and fewer would be contested.

  2.  The planning guidelines depend on the "Local Plan" which includes paragraphs on the conditions to be met, however, it is always subject to approval by committee or individual and there no waste light management which should be defined from the outset Nationally. I enclose a copy of a page from the Local Plan in my area (Appendix 7).

  3.  Concerns on suitable illumination are aired in the Local Newspaper (Appendix 6) (not printed) but how does one measure "material effect on the amenity of local residents" in the light pollution clause? (Appendix 7) (not printed).

  4.  Apart from a few landmark cases contested in court, there is no recourse to enforcement to remove security or industrial lighting that has not been through the planning process. See (Appendix 8) (not printed) for a letter that describes a situation experienced by another astronomer.

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

  In my opinion, position and intensity are measurable for the following reasons:

  1.  Light travels in straight lines and its direction and intensity may be calculated based on the lamp design.

  2.  Its intensity is measurable with a suitable light meter. I have used a Weston Master V Light meter to measure incident light in some conditions (Appendix 2, Table 1). A more sensitive meter is needed to monitor sky glow. Photography is one method, or a continuous monitoring methods using CCD devices. The BBC has excellent cameras to shoot the night sky in Africa, or War in Iraq. Less sensitive detectors would be needed to monitor light pollution. Engineers measure light at ground level. Is this sufficient?

  3.  The effect of wasted light can be measured from satellite based observations.

  4.  From an enforcement point of view, the problem can be tackled at source—the lighting design and installation.

  5.  Lighting which forms a nuisance and falls on neighbouring properties should be a finable offence until re-directed (Appendix 8 and 9) (not printed).

  6.  Decorative building lighting should be controlled (ie low total wattage) and switched off at curfew. See (Fig 3) and (Fig 7) on page 5 (not printed).

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

  1.  I believe this is where the most control should be exercised. Companies do manufacture sky friendly lighting but there may be too few designers using them in preference, with no legislative backup.

  2.  Flood-lights of the 250W and 500W variety are openly sold as garden decorations and intruder alarms. Some are sold with switches so that can be on permanently or depict the lamps in a vertical position. B&Q sell a sky-friendly light.

  3.  Lighting should be labelled as "satisfying light pollution regulation" See not printed which is a hypothetical example. Lighting that fails this criteria should not be approved or sold.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OFFERED

  I draw members of the committee to the following passages which offers further indication of the continued importance of reducing light pollution and possible methods of helping with the prevention of Light Pollution.

  Please note that my suggestions are written in italic

  The Energy White Paper Chapter 3.1

"Energy is often wasted because of poorly insulated buildings or where heating, ventilation and lighting are poorly controlled"

  Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution 22nd Report: http:www.rcep.org.uk/newenergy.html

—  Key Recommendations paragraph 12—The setting up of a Sustainable Energy Agency

—  Key Recommendations paragraph 37-38—

Can we include good low polluting lighting as part of the domestic SAP rating?

—  Key Recommendations paragraph 47 Energy use by industry:

Can the Sustainable Energy Agency look at Industrial light pollution?

—  Key Recommendations paragraph 87—VAT:

Can VAT be reduced for astro-friendly exterior lighting?

CONCLUSION

  Light pollution continues to grow in this observer's opinion, although improvements have been made to the quality of some street fittings and new sports installations (eg Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre). The rate of progress in improving the efficiency of illumination in towns and cities has not resulted in any significant improvement from the astronomical perspective. This is because of the huge number of lumens used to turn night into day. Ten per cent of light from every fitting represents a lot of light going skyward even assuming that it is as low as this. Furthermore I suspect that the growth of towns and urban areas is not matched by a doubling of effort to reduce light spill above the horizontal to achieve a net decrease in light pollution.

  Peoples' attitude and awareness of light pollution is improving, but we do not have the weight of legislation to protect our environment from local sources such as powerful security lights, over lit buildings and gardens, Motorway Service Stations, excessive advertising illumination, cloud illuminating laser light shows etc. There are also more extensive sources like the total upward waste light from a town or city as seen from rural and semi-rural areas and confirmed by satellite observation. This urgently needs to be addressed.

  I also enclose a letter to the European Council on the subject of this discussion (Appendix 10) (not printed).

April 2003