Castlebar's lights detract from Newport's Dark Sky efforts

Newport town is well on its way to becoming an exemplary Dark Sky friendly town with a reduction of up to 80% in light pollution and emissions from public lighting set to be achieved there.

However, a meeting of Mayo County Council's Environment and Climate Change Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) was told that more can be done to improve the entire night sky view from Newport, such as reducing the visibility of public and industrial lighting from the direction of Castlebar, which is 20km from Newport.

Mayo Dark Sky Park Development Officer, Georgia MacMillan, told members of the SPC about ongoing Dark Sky measures that continue to be introduced around Newport, taking in Barrack Hill, St Patrick’s Church and the Seven Arches bridge. She said the works are enthusiastically supported by the local community and voluntary groups such as the Friends of Mayo Dark Skies, established by locals in Newport, Mulranny and Ballycroy.

The project around the town has led to a 50% light reduction and current measures include further dimming of public lighting between midnight and 6am and a change in direction and colour of lighting on the N59 bridge.

“Where we can do better is from Newport looking to Castlebar. We have done a lot already on public lighting but that is not always the main source. So we have to think around other areas, such as industry and commerce and also parks and outdoor recreation as well as residential areas, where light is going into the sky unnecessarily, sometimes all night.” 

Showing a presentation slide of lights emitting from Castlebar that can be viewed in Newport, she said: “These are lights we can see from 20km away so we do have to change the mindset.” 

The Newport success story follows on from years of work after it was included in the Mayo County Development Plan 2021-2027 as the first Dark Sky friendly town, with a masterplan adopted to make it a more energy-efficient gateway to the Mayo International Dark Sky Park and Wild Nephin Park.

Dark Sky friendly measures include targetting of artificial lighting, limiting timings around light usage, advocating for no blue glare, shields, directional lighting and restrictions on facades and lighting during sleep hours.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.