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Following the question posed (by the Climate Change Working Party of Chipping Campden Town Council )what is being done/what can be done regardig Light Pollution In 2019 I was pleased ot be part of a group From Cotswold AONB that formulated the Dark Skies policy - though I have to admit the other party did most of the work. If you turn to the link:-<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Dark-Skies-Artificial-Light-Appendix-A-Night-lights.pdf">https://www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Dark-Skies-Artificial-Light-Appendix-A-Night-lights.pdf</a>You will see that the picture tells a thousand stories. All that wasted light polluting the night sky. Light pollution is one of the easiest to be mapped. Th emajor towns adjacent to the Cotswolds can clearly be shown, but increasingly teh smaller market towns and larger villages are showing increasing levels of light pollution. This comes in part from suburbanisation of these rural areas. So active rather than passive control is now needed. Why worry about light pollution. Well it affects many of our nightime mammals and insects We all - plants, animals have adapted over millions of years to take account of the naturlarythms of daylight, nightitme and even seasons. On a more general and day to day level - what is happening ot our bodies that naturally says it’s daytime or nightitme. It is fairly well documented that people who do shift work or experience great changes in day length (aircrew etc going thorugh different time zones) find it quite difficult ot regain the normal sleep patterns. Not all insects or mammals of course are active in daylight, lots of moths are only active at night. From smaller animals to birds of prey - owls - hunt at night. All part of this circadian rythm.So when we have lots of light pollution the body~ be it moth, owl or human ~ isn’t quite sure whether it is day or night. Light pollution affects circadian rythms which in turn can affect hunting; breeding ; migration patterns or just plain old human stress!Some work by CPRE also demonstrated that far from causing greater break-ins, dark skies and dark places actually led to reduced crime. As all the Local Planning Auhtorities in the Cotswold area have signed into the Management plan - which contains the dark skies policy, there is quite a variation in active interpretation.Poor design of outdoor lighting ( and I include a personal dislike of up-lighters ) can be hazardous to motorists, pedestirans as well as annoying to neighbours. But it’s not just about overcoming annoying issues such as poor installation. Dark Skies in Northumberland has actually increased tourist take, as people enojoy - the sky at night.So those are the reasons for the Dark Skies policies of the Cotswold National Protected Landscapes and how we can all benefit Liz h

Following the question posed (by the Climate Change Working Party of Chipping Campden Town Council )what is being done/what can be done regardig Light Pollution In 2019 I was pleased ot be part of a group From Cotswold AONB that formulated the