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 promote biodiversity in Burwash, with better energy efficiency and better public health.

We need to look at ways to promote better lighting solutions and provide guidance on lighting in the parish so that we can maintain our dark skies.

The following policy has been adopted by the Parish:

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.

If you are interested in joining the Burwash Dark Skies Group, please contact Julian Kenny on jkforward@hotmail.com

There’s more information about Dark Skies here.