News & Events

Have you seen a dark sky recently?

The South Devon AONBs Light Pollution Reduction Project supported by the Sustainable Development Fund has recently staged three opportunities to discover our night skies in one of the worlds most advanced mobile planetariums.  The events were all fully booked and participants thrilled with what they were shown “Absolutely Brilliant. The best night out ever!”,  and “An inspiring presentation. Thank you.”

Astronomer and teacher Simon Ould of Space Odyssey took everyone on a guided tour of the stars, and demonstrated how much more we could see if we all did our bit to reduce the amount of light that spills out into our night sky masking its true beauty.

 In the rural areas of South Devon the problem is often incidental low level lighting.  One of the aims of this project is to help individual householders and organisations to minimise the impact of security lighting in their own properties or those of buildings which the relevant organisations are responsible for.

As part of the first phase of this project a series of fact sheets is currently being developed which will be available to download from the AONB website shortly at: www.southdevonaonb.org.uk. 
They will include:
* A lighting checklist to guide new development with external lighting
* Local case studies illustrating Parish, householder and business approaches to tackling obtrusive lighting.
* A local comparison of 1993 and 2000 dark skies data
* Our night sky resource - the best local spots to view the stars and dates to look out for interesting happenings
* A guide to the range of web-based technical resources out there to help you develop better lighting solutions
 

Further information from Liz Davey 01803 861183

Local Action Group looking for ideas

The South Devon Local Action group is looking for ideas from local communities

The South Devon Coastal Action Group is calling on local communities to come forward with ideas for projects to form part of a bid to secure 5 years worth of external funding for rural communities. There will be a workshop at Kingsbridge Community College 6th form Centre on Wednesday 16th April from 6.00-8.00pm.

 For further information and to book your place on the workshop please call Alan Stapleton on 01548 843085 or email alanstapleton@btinternet.com

Management Plan review workshops

Organisations participate in Management Plan seminars

Following on from our 'one to one' key stakeholder discussions we are staging a series of workshops specifically for organisations at Follaton House Totnes to develop a response with regard to challenging key topics. We would very much value the input  of organisations representing a wide range of interests across South Devon to ensure that the consultation process is as comprehensive as possible.
There are three further sessions taking place:

• Rural business, agriculture & land use - Wednesday 16th April 9.30am –12.30pm  light refreshments included    
• Coastal access, Marine Bill, seascape assessment -  Monday 28th April 1.45pm - 4.30pm tea/coffee included      
• Strategic planning, responding to development pressures - Thursday 1st May 1.45pm - 4.30pm tea/coffee included     

Ring Diane Lethbridge to book a place  01803 861378     

The next meeting will be on Thursday 24th April     

The next meeting of the Salcombe Kingsbridge Estuary Conservation Forum will be at West Charleton Village Hall on 24th April commencing at 7:00 pm. The main agenda item will be to discuss the Estuary Management Plan  progress and proposals for the next six months, including presentations on Marine Conservation, Catchment Sensitive Farming, National Trust, Environment Agency, and Devon Seas Fisheries. This is a chance for organisations to inform the Forum of any relevant projects being progressed by them.

All enquiries to the newly appointed Estuaries Officer Nigel Mortimer 01803 861465