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Ealing, London

Daylight and sunlight report in Ealing

Ealing Council publishes no daylight and sunlight rule that we can cite with a value, so the report here depends on the officer's reading of your scheme and on the borough's extensions guidance, SPD 4 - Residential extensions. A report is most likely for schemes that add flats or a new house, or sit close to a neighbour's living-room window. We tell you which category yours is in before you spend.

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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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    Rows of brick terraced houses and gardens on a residential street

    How Ealing handles daylight when its list is silent

    The first thing to say is what we cannot say. There is no verified Ealing validation line on daylight and sunlight in our dataset, so we do not pretend there is. What we do is ask the officer at pre-application stage, read the validation list in force on the day of submission, and keep the answer on your job file.

    That matters because a list can change, and a report ordered on a hunch is money spent. A written answer from the officer, or the absence of the item on the current list, is a sound basis for deciding.

    Georgian brick terrace with sash windows, arched fanlight doorways, stone steps and iron railings in London

    Local figures for Ealing

    Figures with their unit, period and source
    MeasureValuePeriodSource
    Supplementary planning documentSPD 4 - Residential extensions—ealing.gov.uk
    Local plan adopted2,012—ealing.gov.uk
    Conservation areas31 named conservation areas published by the council—planning.data.gov.uk
    Listed building entries309 list entries (Historic England, within the LPA boundary)—planning.data.gov.uk
    Green Belt share of the council area6 % of council area covered by green-belt polygons—planning.data.gov.uk
    Households living in a house50.3 % of households living in a house or bungalow (detached, semi-detached or terraced)Census 2021nomisweb.co.uk
    Owner-occupied households46.2 % of households owner-occupied (owned outright or with mortgage/loan)Census 2021nomisweb.co.uk
    Householder applications granted87.2 %1 July 2025 - 30 June 2026assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
    Mayoral CIL rate (indexed)72.73 £/m² (indexed, permissions granted in 2026)—london.gov.uk
    Borough CIL charging scheduleLondon Borough of Ealing Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedulefrom 2026-03-01ealing.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 Ealing
    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

    The extensions guidance and the shape of an Ealing extension

    The guidance that governs most householder work is SPD 4 - Residential extensions. It sets the envelope for rear and side additions, and the daylight question starts from that envelope. If your design stays inside it, the neighbour's light is usually in the clear; if you want to go beyond it, a measured report is the way to argue the case.

    The borough's overall policy base is older than the London guidance: its core strategy was adopted in 2,012, so officers often lean on the Mayor's documents for the light question.

    What Ealing's numbers say about the typical plot

    About 50.3% of Ealing households live in a house, and 46.2% own their home. The borough therefore mixes long inter-war terraces and semis with flat blocks along the main roads. The householder caseload is substantial, with 946 decisions in the year, 87.2% granted and 95.3% decided in time.

    A typical Ealing extension sits beside a neighbour with a kitchen window onto a side return. That is the window we measure first, because it is the one most often raised in an objection letter.

    Heritage, Green Belt and levy

    Ealing has 31 conservation areas and 309 listed entries, and 6% of the borough is Green Belt. The council also charges its own levy under the London Borough of Ealing Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule, so a scheme that adds floor area carries a borough charge as well as the Mayor's indexed charge of £72.73 per square metre. Both are worth knowing before the design is fixed. Our architectural drawings in Ealing page covers the full constraint set.

    What we do for an Ealing job

    We build the design model, record the neighbours' windows, and run the simple screen, 45, first. Often that is all an officer needs, and we state the finding in a short note. When it is not, we produce the fuller report with before and after figures.

    Pair this with planning drawings in Ealing so the model is built once. The neighbouring pages for Brent and Hounslow show a different local approach.

    Reading an officer's reply on light

    When an Ealing officer replies on light, the answer usually falls into one of three kinds. Some say a report is required before validation. Some say it is not needed unless the neighbour objects. And some give no answer at all until the plans are in. We treat the third kind as the riskiest, because a late request can add weeks, so we suggest a short screening note at submission that shows the neighbour's windows were checked.

    That note costs little, takes the officer's question off the table, and can be upgraded to a full report without any rework because it comes from the same model.

    Rear, side and loft additions compared

    A rear single-storey extension mostly affects the neighbour's ground-floor window and garden. A side extension changes the light to a side passage and any flank windows. A loft conversion with a rear dormer alters sky seen from upper rear windows, and rarely more than that. We tell you which of these your scheme resembles, so you know whether the test is a simple screen or something longer.

    Quote

    We price by the number of windows to be tested. Send the address and a sketch and you will have a fixed quote, or a clear answer that none is needed.

    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.
    Brick cottage with a tiled roof, chimneys and a front dormer window
    The street around you
    Move across the plinth — the blocks rise around the pointer.

    Other services in Ealing

    Daylight and sunlight reports nearby

    Questions

    Does Ealing have a daylight rule we can quote?

    We hold no verified value for one, so we ask the officer directly and check the current validation list instead of guessing.

    Which Ealing document governs extension size?

    SPD 4 - Residential extensions. Daylight tests start from the envelope it allows.

    Is my Ealing extension likely to need a report?

    Not if it is modest and stays inside the guidance. A deeper or taller scheme beside a neighbour's main window is more likely to prompt one.

    Does the borough levy affect the cost of a report?

    No. It is a charge on new floor area, separate from the cost of a daylight study.

    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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