Lighting: Planning Permission

(asked on 25th February 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 27 January (HL411), whether local authorities, when considering building developments of all kinds, are required to conduct a full appraisal, including of the environmental impact, before any lighting project is commissioned.


This question was answered on 9th March 2020

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light. The Framework is supported by our planning guidance, revised in November last year, which sets out how environmental and other impacts of light pollution should be considered in the planning system. Local planning authorities must take the Framework into account when preparing their plans and its policies - including those on light pollution - also need to be considered in making individual planning decisions.

Light must also be considered for the relatively small number of developments that fall under the category of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) development. Under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, developments which, due to their nature, size or location are likely to have significant effects on the environment must be subject to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process before planning permission can be granted. Screening is used to determine whether a proposed project is likely to have significant effects on the environment.

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