Keeping the skies dark over Woodsmith

The North York Moors National Park is one of the best places in the country to gaze up at the night sky, with the stars and constellations more visible due to the low light pollution levels in the area.

Such is the region’s clear visibility that in December 2020, an area of the Park was designated as an International Dark Sky Reserve. A successful Dark Skies Festival is also run every year.

Anglo American’s Woodsmith Mine is located on the eastern edge of the Park above Whitby, so the need to minimise light pollution while providing a safe overnight working environment is a responsibility we take extremely seriously.

One of our team responsible for ensuring the success of our ongoing management of light emissions is Environment Officer, Zoe Cooper.

Zoe lives just a few miles away from the mine site, and so feels a strong moral obligation to her local community to minimise the mine’s impact on the place she calls home.

“The National Park, quite rightly, sets very high standards for us but we also set incredibly high expectations for ourselves,” she says. “It is really important that we create a culture on site where every worker is empowered to take responsibility for minimising the environmental impact of their work. We give all our staff inductions and training on the appropriate siting and operation of lighting equipment and undertake regular monitoring of lighting impact, both on and off site”.

Measures taken to minimise light pollution include angling lights to minimise spill and glare to the east, towards Whitby and the busy A171 route that connects it to Scarborough and the rest of the North Yorkshire coast; ensuring lights are pointing downwards wherever possible, or at a maximum of 20º; using only temporary lights on a working area and restricting them to a height of four meters; and limiting pedestrian lighting to one meter height maximum.