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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of controls for light pollution within the planning system; and what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that planning rules on light pollution are being followed.

Planning guidance is just one of the ways that we seek to manage light pollution impacts and most types of lighting will fall outside of the control of the planning system. Local planning authorities must take the National Planning Policy Framework into account when preparing their plans; and its policies - including those on light pollution - also need to be taken into account in making individual planning decisions.

We have given local planning authorities a wide range of enforcement powers, with strong penalties for non-compliance, to deal with development which has not been carried out in accordance with the planning permission granted. It is for authorities to decide when and how they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.

Beyond the limits of planning guidance, the statutory nuisance regime provides individuals with recourse to their local authority where artificial light constitutes a nuisance.

DEFRA coordinates policy relating to light pollution across Government and undertook a review of light pollution policy in January 2014, titled Artificial light in the environment: policy update.