Daylight and sunlight report in Bromley

A big Green Belt borough with a lot of heritage to weave around

Over half the borough, 51%, is Green Belt, so a large share of Bromley homes are extended under restraint policies that already limit height and bulk. Add 47 conservation areas, 108 Article 4 directions and 412 listed entries, and the plot-by-plot picture is varied. The urban design advice that officers apply is the Urban Design Guide SPD, and a daylight argument has to sit comfortably alongside it.

Because the same design constraints that protect a conservation area usually keep extensions low and set back, they also protect the neighbour's light. Our job is to show that with figures rather than assume it.

What Bromley's appeal figures tell us about light disputes

Householder appeals are a useful guide to how contested the borough is. The Planning Inspectorate decided 502 householder appeals against Bromley refusals in the period covered by our data, and 37.6% were allowed. Bromley itself granted 78.6% of its 1,609 householder decisions, and decided 89.1% in time.

When an extension is refused for harm to a neighbour's outlook or light, an appeal is easier to argue with a measured report than with opinion. If you are already in that position, our planning appeals in Bromley page explains what a statement needs, and the light figures can form a short annex.

How we prepare a Bromley report

We measure the neighbours' windows, model the proposal, and run the tests Bromley names. The first screen is the simple geometric line, 45. If your extension passes, we can often say that a full vertical sky component study is unnecessary and put that conclusion in writing. If it fails, the full set runs and the report explains the result in plain English.

The same model feeds our planning drawings in Bromley, so a design change flows straight through to the test. For comparison, Bromley's neighbours Lewisham and Croydon set different triggers, and a scheme near a boundary can fall under either.

What the sunlight part of a Bromley report covers

Sunlight is judged differently from daylight. For each neighbouring window that faces within the guide's orientation, we calculate how much sun reaches it through the year and through the winter months, and compare the result with the existing building. For gardens and open amenity space, we draw the shadow cast on the equinox, since that is the day the guide uses as its yardstick.

A pitched roof set back from the boundary often does better than a flat one built to the same height, because the shadow is shorter. We show the alternatives side by side so you can see what a small design change buys.

Getting a quote for a Bromley scheme

We do not publish a list price, because the number of windows to test varies a great deal from one site to the next. Send us the address and a rough sketch. We reply with whether the council is likely to ask, which of its listed measurements would be needed, and a fixed figure for the report if one is worth commissioning.