Burwash is one of the few areas in the south-east that still has Dark Skies. On clear nights, everyone in the parish can enjoy the beauty of a night sky bedecked with some two thousand stars. By contrast, light pollution means that city dwellers are often looking up at a night sky with only 20 visible stars.
In addition to the beauty of the night, keeping our skies dark helps to protect wildlife that relies on dark skies for their continued survival.
The Planning Committee at the Parish Council promote dark skies by requesting that any application that highlights external lighting or would promote internal light spill, i.e. an increase in expanse of glass or a dormer window / roof light, etc, identifies any mitigation to the light spill, i.e. specialist dark skies compliant glass that filters out the light, or coverings to be used at night times, etc and that the applicant adheres to the adopted policy for the parish in the current Neighbourhood Plan. The policy adopted in the Neighbourhood Plan is as follows:
Policy EN04 Dark Skies New development proposals should be appropriate to the dark skies status of the three villages and limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, the intrinsically dark landscapes within the parish and nature conservation. Lighting, including outside and security lighting, associated with such developments should be in accordance with the CIE 150 (2003) and the Institute of Burwash Neighbourhood Development Plan 39 Lighting Professionals (ILP) lighting guidance on the reduction of obtrusive light. All new developments with external lighting should meet or exceed ILP guidance for the environmental zone in which the development is set to take place (www.theilp.org.uk) and/or the highest standards of light pollution restrictions in force at the time.
To view the policy in context of the Burwash Neighbourhood Plan, please click here
If you are interested in joining the Burwash Dark Skies Group, please contact Julian Kenny on jkforward@hotmail.com