{"id":601407,"date":"2026-05-24T12:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T12:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601407\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T12:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T12:40:08","slug":"highland-council-proposes-dark-sky-policy-to-cut-light-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601407\/","title":{"rendered":"Highland Council proposes dark sky policy to cut light pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Council officials said no Scottish local authority had introduced a new-style local development plan policy specifically on light pollution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It said West Lothian Council had approved non-statutory planning guidance, and Dumfries and Galloway Council produced similar guidance in 2020. South-west Scotland is home to the UK&#8217;s first Dark Sky Park &#8211; Galloway Forest Park.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Highland Council said tackling light pollution could bring other benefits such as a cut in energy use, better protection for nocturnal wildlife &#8211; and even help people get a better night&#8217;s sleep.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">They added any measures would have to be balanced against safety.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.highland.gov.uk\/meetings\/meeting\/5351\/economy-and-infrastructure-committee\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ahead of Thursday&#8217;s economy and infrastructure committee, external<\/a>, chairman Ken Gowans said: &#8220;Highland is already recognised internationally, and communities across the region are increasingly interested in achieving formal &#8216;dark sky&#8217; status. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This will not only enable people to enjoy Highland&#8217;s stunning scenery in daytime but our amazing skies and glorious Northern Lights at night.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He added: &#8220;The proposed policy approach would provide a clearer and more consistent framework for managing lighting in new developments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In 2024, the Isle of Rum, which is in the Highland Council area, was named Scotland&#8217;s first International Dark Sky Sanctuary by the organisation DarkSky International.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Council officials said no Scottish local authority had introduced a new-style local development plan policy specifically on light&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-601407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}