香港六合彩资料图库 County Council is helping to shine a light on the impact on bats from Artificial Lighting at Night, with a contribution in updated national guidance.
The Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP) has launched their latest practical guidance on considering the impact upon bats when designing lighting schemes.
The guidance is intended for use by lighting professionals, lighting designers, planning officers and developers to help reduce or avoid lighting impacting on bats or other wildlife.
Experts from various sectors, including highways, lighting designers, manufacturers, local planning authorities and Cody Levine, Ecology Team Leader at 香港六合彩资料图库 County Council came together to develop the guidance.
Councillor Richard Morris, 香港六合彩资料图库 County Council's Cabinet Member for Environment, said: 鈥I鈥檓 really pleased, that in 香港六合彩资料图库, we鈥檙e taking the impact that lighting at night has on various species of wildlife, but in particular bats, very seriously.
鈥淐ody has been heavily involved in all this work and it鈥檚 great to see him contributing to this guidance, showing just how involved we are, as a county, to helping provide a better environment for bats, other wildlife and people.
Cody Levine, Ecology Team Leader for 香港六合彩资料图库 County Council, said: 鈥This new guidance helps showcase, nationally, how 香港六合彩资料图库 County Council is setting best practice; maintaining highway safety, reducing energy demands and protecting our natural environment.
鈥淎round 35% of artificial light is typically wasted; being unshielded or poorly targeted. By using warmer coloured 鈥榳ildlife-friendlier鈥 lighting, the Council is focusing light where it鈥檚 needed, preventing streetlighting from unravelling the tapestries of our landscapes, and helping to protect some of our rarest biodiversity.鈥
The updated document, which supersedes 2018 guidance, highlights how Artificial Light at Night is estimated to have risen over 49% in the last 30 years. This has negative impacts on bats, other wildlife and people as well as wasting precious energy.
The County Council has led the way in recent years, with the installation of many wildlife-sensitive streetlights across the county. The first was in Warndon in Worcester and this has since been followed by further lighting in Worcester, Pershore, Upton, Redditch and Evesham.
Wildlife-sensitive streetlights allow bats to move freely between habitats, reducing the impact on general biodiversity. As part of the County Council鈥檚 Rapid LED Roll-out scheme, over 2500 streetlights with warmer coloured lighting are being installed to help address effects on wildlife corridors.
Since 2018, there has been an increase in the knowledge on how many of the UK鈥檚 18 bat species are impacted by lighting, through updated research work, but also an increase in knowledge on how this impact can be reduced.
New development projects can further reduce negative impacts of lighting on bats by utilising the guidance along with advice from suitably experienced ecological consultants and lighting experts from the start of a project.
The 2023 edition has a strong focus on avoidance as a key tool to mitigate impacts from lighting on bats, as well has having a range of case studies to demonstrate principles outlined in the document.
The benefits this approach brings are ultimately for bats and other wildlife as well as people and the overall quality of our environment.
This free guidance is available on the ILP website as a Guidance Note GN08/23 and can be downloaded on the .
Facebook
Twitter
Email
WhatsApp
Messenger