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Lighting: Pollution

Question for Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

UIN HL2402, tabled on 12 February 2024

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of current planning legislation in limiting light pollution of the night skies in England.

Answered on

26 February 2024

The National Planning Policy Framework states that planning policies and decisions should “limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation.”

The character of the area and the surrounding environment is already a material consideration about what will be considered an appropriate level of lighting for a development. This applies to both new housing and new commercial developments.