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Bexley, London

Daylight and sunlight report in Bexley

A daylight and sunlight report in Bexley shows the council, in measured figures, how much light your extension or new building takes from the windows next door. Bexley asks for one on major schemes and wherever a proposal could harm light to neighbouring homes and gardens, so a typical house extension needs a check rather than a full report. We tell you which side of that line your plot sits on before you commit to anything.

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We use it to check conservation areas and constraints.
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    Architectural model of a four-storey London stucco townhouse in its terrace, with a portico, area railings, sash windows, a cornice and chimney stacks
    The house as it stands: four storeys over a lower ground floor.Existing Proposed worksAn illustrative model, built for this page.

    How we work on daylight and sunlight reports

    Seven steps from first call to approval.

    The same model cut through the middle: every floor, the stair, the chimney breasts, the new mansard, rear extension and basement in section
    Section through the model: every floor on one datum.

    1. Enquiry and constraints check

      We check the property against conservation areas, listed status, Article 4 directions, tree preservation orders, flood zone and planning history. We choose the right route and send a fixed quote.

    2. Measured survey

      We survey the house on one datum: rooms, levels, boundaries, drains, trees and the neighbours' windows that the 45° and 25° tests depend on.

    3. Design options

      We model the house in Revit and show you options in 3D and plan, with the planning strategy and the precedents in your street.

    4. Design frozen

      You choose an option in writing. Nothing changes after this without your say.

    5. Independent check

      A second chartered technologist checks every sheet against the council's validation checklist and the policy. A senior review signs it off before anything is submitted.

    6. Submission

      We prepare the forms, certificates, fee and documents and submit through the Planning Portal.

    7. Officer liaison

      We answer the planning officer and make any amendments within five working days, at no charge until approval.

    Free redraws until approval. Every drawing set is checked independently, and the checker is never the person who drew it.

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    Rear view of brick terraced houses in London with slate roofs and chimney stacks along the shared roofline

    What Bexley's validation list says about daylight and sunlight

    Bexley treats daylight and sunlight as a conditional item on its planning application requirements. An assessment may be needed where a scheme could cause significant harm to light reaching neighbouring gardens, parks and other amenity space, or where the site itself sits in the shadow of adjoining buildings. The stated trigger is a major development, or any application with a potential adverse impact. The council's own wording and the value we record for it are in the table below (majors or potential adverse impact).

    The borough's design advice for alterations sits in Design Guide SPD Part 2: Building Alterations and Extensions, with Design Guide SPD Part 1: Design Principles behind it. Those documents govern how deep and how tall your new walls may be. The light question is then answered separately, using the BRE guide, so we read the design guide first for the massing limits and test the resulting shape against the neighbours' windows.

    Pencil resting on a dimensioned technical drawing beside a scale rule

    Local figures for Bexley

    Figures with their unit, period and source
    MeasureValuePeriodSource
    A daylight/sunlight assessment may be needed where there is potential significant adverse impact on sunlight/daylight to neighbouring sensitive uses (gardens, parks, amenity space), or where the site itself is affected by adjacent buildings. Trigger: major developments and any application with potential adverse impact.majors or potential adverse impact—bexley.gov.uk, London Borough of Bexley Planning Application Requirements (reviewed 17 October 2018), pp.13-14, 'Daylight/Sunlight Assessment'
    Supplementary planning documentDesign Guide SPD Part 2: Building Alterations and Extensions2026bexley.gov.uk
    Conservation areas23 named conservation areas published by the council—planning.data.gov.uk
    Listed building entries114 list entries (Historic England, within the LPA boundary)—planning.data.gov.uk
    Green Belt share of the council area17 % of council area covered by green-belt polygons—planning.data.gov.uk
    Households living in a house75.3 % of households living in a house or bungalow (detached, semi-detached or terraced)Census 2021nomisweb.co.uk
    Householder decisions877 decisions1 July 2025 - 30 June 2026assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
    Householder applications granted94.6 %1 July 2025 - 30 June 2026assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
    Merton Council Small Sites Toolkit 01 Design Guidance (SPG), para 6.1.11, PDF p.44: depth and height of a multi-storey rear projection 'should not exceed 45 degrees measured from the centre of the closest ground floor habitable room' of the neighbour45 degrees (plan and elevation)—merton.gov.uk

    A blank value means the figure has not been published, not that there are none. Check your own address with the council.

    Councils bordering Bexley
    Which application your project needsLawful Development Certificate decision: 8 weeks. Prior approval decision: 42 days. Householder decision: 8 weeksYour projectWithin permitted development?Lawful Development CertificatePrior approvalHouseholder applicationYesLarger rear extensionNoABC

    Which application your project needs

    The usual route for a house; flats and listed buildings follow other rules.

    A · Lawful Development Certificate decision
    8 weeks
    B · Prior approval decision
    42 days
    C · Householder decision
    8 weeks

    Why most Bexley house extensions need a check, not a full report

    About 75.3% of Bexley households live in a house or bungalow. Many of those homes sit side by side, which puts a new rear wall within a few metres of somebody's kitchen or living-room window, which is exactly where light disputes start. It is also why the council's threshold of potential adverse impact matters more than the word major.

    Householder cases are the bulk of the workload: 877 decisions in the latest twelve months, with 94.6% granted and 99.4% decided on time. Those figures say light is seldom what stops a sensible extension. They also say officers see plenty of near-identical proposals, so a neighbour's objection about a lost window gets read carefully when it arrives.

    Heritage and Green Belt limits that change the light test

    Bexley has 23 conservation areas and 114 listed entries, and 17% of the borough is Green Belt. In each of those settings the height of an addition is capped by something other than neighbours' light, so the daylight geometry is often the easier part of the case. The reverse also happens: a design squeezed lower to satisfy a conservation officer can lose usable rooms inside, and we then check light to the new rooms too.

    If your home is near one of those designations, see our wider note on architectural drawings in Bexley for how the constraints stack up.

    How we run the check on a Bexley plot

    We start from the survey: window positions and sill heights on the neighbouring elevations. The design is then built as a three-dimensional model so the line test used in borough guides, 45, can be drawn against every opening rather than the nearest one. If that line is cleared, the report may not be needed. If it is crossed, we run the fuller BRE measurements and give you the results before and after.

    Most clients combine this with planning drawings in Bexley, because a few centimetres taken off the roof pitch can change the result. Neighbouring boroughs follow similar logic, and our pages for Greenwich and Dartford show where their lists differ.

    Quote and what happens next

    The report has no list price because the work depends on how many neighbouring windows sit within reach of your scheme. We quote a fixed sum after looking at the plot for free. Tell us the address and the idea; we will reply with a plain yes, no or maybe on whether the council is likely to ask, and a figure if a report is worth buying.

    What you receive

    Planning drawing sheet for a rear extension with plans, elevations and sections
    Sample drawing. Planning drawings for a rear extension: plans, elevations and sections on one sheet set.
    Rows of brick terraced houses and gardens on a residential street
    The street around you
    Move across the plinth — the blocks rise around the pointer.

    Other services in Bexley

    Daylight and sunlight reports nearby

    Questions

    Will Bexley Council ask for a daylight report on my rear extension?

    Probably not on its own. Bexley's list targets major developments and applications with a potential adverse impact on light, so a modest single-storey extension is usually judged by the officer's eye and the design guide. We check your neighbours' windows to confirm.

    Which Bexley document sets extension depth limits?

    The extensions part of the borough design guide, Design Guide SPD Part 2: Building Alterations and Extensions. It shapes the building envelope. The light tests then measure the effect of that envelope.

    Is a report different for a garden or amenity area?

    Yes. Bexley's list names neighbouring gardens and amenity space alongside windows, so a tall boundary-side addition can need a sunlight-on-garden test as well as the window checks.

    Can a failed test be fixed?

    Often. Lowering an eaves line, stepping a side wall back or changing a roof shape can bring a result inside the guide. We show you the change before you commit to a redesign.

    Sources and dates

    City of London skyline glowing at dusk across the Thames under a dramatic orange sky

    Tell us about your property.

    We check the constraints, then send a fixed fee. Messages before 3pm get a reply the same working day.

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