Daylight and sunlight report in Camden

Camden's planning guidance that shapes the light case

Camden's advice comes as planning guidance documents rather than one design guide: Home Improvements CPG (Camden Planning Guidance), Amenity CPG (Camden Planning Guidance), Design CPG (Camden Planning Guidance) and, for lower floors, Basements CPG (Camden Planning Guidance). The Amenity one is the document most closely tied to light, privacy and outlook, so a report for Camden should answer the points it raises rather than recite generic figures.

Basements are the quiet cause of light questions here. A new lightwell at the front or a deepened rear garden changes the view and the shadow cast on lower windows, so we test the lower windows that face it.

A dense borough: what the numbers say about neighbours

With 13.3% of households in a house and only 29.7% owning their home, Camden is mostly flats and rented homes. Any rear addition is therefore tested against several windows at different heights, many of them belonging to people who will object if their only living room darkens. Officers decided 394 householder applications in the year and granted 89.1%, but only 77.7% were decided in time, so a clear, evidence-led submission also helps avoid questions that stretch the timetable.

Householder appeals are also a window on how contested light is: 76 were decided and 35.5% allowed.

Heritage and Article 4 in Camden

The borough has 40 conservation areas, 1,971 listed entries and 21 Article 4 directions. In those areas the roof and rear of a terrace are tightly managed, so the light impact of a rear or roof addition is usually modest; the discussion then moves to character and the neighbour's outlook. Our architectural drawings in Camden page sets out the designations, and our basement impact assessment in Camden page covers the ground and water side of lower-floor schemes.

What a Camden report looks like to the officer

The officer reading it wants three things: which windows were tested, how the result compares with the guide, and a sentence in plain English about what it means for the person living behind each window. We set the report out in that order, with the model view that shows the proposal and the window it affects on the same page.

For schemes that create new homes, we add the light inside each room and the sunlight reaching the proposed amenity space, since the local list asks for those too.

Camden extensions that rarely need a full report

A single-storey rear addition with a low roof, set away from the neighbour's window, is the sort of scheme that often passes the screening line and needs only a short note. The same extension raised by a storey, or built hard against a lower-ground-floor window, usually does not. We tell you early which side your plan is on, because the simplest fix is often a lower eaves line drawn before planning drawings are finished.

Next step for a Camden scheme

Because Camden's trigger is wide, we usually run the screening geometry before anything else and tell you plainly whether a full report is needed. Our planning drawings in Camden use the same model, and nearby boroughs such as Islington and Westminster apply their own lists. Send the address and an idea, and we will quote a fixed sum if a report is worth buying.