Daylight requirements in East Hampshire are a routine consideration for residential planning applications across the district, from rear extensions in Alton and Petersfield to new homes at Whitehill & Bordon. East Hampshire District Council expects development to protect the daylight, sunlight and amenity of neighbouring properties, and it has published unusually clear guidance setting out how it assesses these impacts. This article explains the adopted policy framework, the council's householder SPD and its 45-degree daylight rule, the important South Downs National Park distinction, and how a professional report can support your scheme.
Daylight requirements in East Hampshire: the policy framework
East Hampshire District Council is the local planning authority for most of the district. Hampshire County Council is the upper-tier authority but is not the planning authority for householder and most residential applications. There is also a crucial local quirk: a large part of East Hampshire lies within the South Downs National Park, where the South Downs National Park Authority is the planning authority and applies its own local plan. The guidance below applies to the parts of the district outside the National Park.
The adopted development plan for East Hampshire is the East Hampshire District Local Plan, made up of:
- the Joint Core Strategy (JCS), adopted by the district council on 8 May 2014 (and by the South Downs National Park Authority on 26 June 2014), which sets the strategic policies; and
- the Housing and Employment Allocations plan, adopted 7 April 2016, which allocates sites outside the National Park.
The council is preparing an emerging local plan to take the district forward, but until that is adopted the 2014 JCS and 2016 Allocations plan carry full weight.
Policy CP27: Pollution and amenity
Policy CP27 (Pollution) protects the amenity of the occupiers of neighbouring properties. The council's guidance confirms that CP27 requires that development should not adversely affect neighbours through poorly positioned buildings, extensions or boundary treatments, and that loss of privacy and excessive overshadowing are unacceptable. Loss of daylight and sunlight is assessed within this amenity test.
Policy CP29: Design
Policy CP29 (Design) requires that the design and layout of new buildings and extensions are appropriate to their setting in terms of scale, height, massing and density, and in their relationship to adjoining buildings and the spaces around them. Together, CP27 and CP29 form the basis on which daylight, sunlight, overshadowing and overlooking impacts are weighed in East Hampshire.
The Residential Extensions and Householder Development SPD
East Hampshire has a dedicated, adopted Residential Extensions and Householder Development Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), which helps to interpret Policies CP27 and CP29. It does not apply within the South Downs National Park. The SPD is notable for setting out specific, measurable rules of thumb, which makes it a valuable reference for applicants:
- The 45-degree daylight rule. The SPD states that the maximum limit to which extensions will be favourably considered is generally determined by drawing a straight line at an angle of 45 degrees towards an adjacent property from the nearest projecting corner of the extension, viewed from above. If the centre of a habitable room window on a neighbouring property lies on (or within the triangle created by) this line, the extension is likely to have an unacceptable impact on the daylight received by that window.
- It is a guide, not an absolute. The SPD is careful to say the 45-degree test is a useful rule of thumb, and that other material considerations - such as boundary heights, trees, levels and orientation - also affect the daylight and sunlight received by adjoining properties.
- Overshadowing and overbearing. Extensions must not cause unacceptable overshadowing of, or overbearing impacts on, neighbouring property and their gardens or amenity space.
- Separation distances. Two-storey rear extensions should respect a 21-metre back-to-back separation distance between properties to avoid undue overlooking, and a minimum separation of 12 metres is encouraged between the flank wall of a two-storey side extension and the rear elevation of a neighbouring property to avoid an overbearing impact.
- Privacy and overlooking. New windows to habitable rooms should not allow unrestricted views into neighbouring windows or private amenity areas.
These local measures give applicants in East Hampshire a clear starting point, but because they are deliberately framed as rules of thumb, a full technical assessment is often the best way to demonstrate that a scheme is acceptable where it is borderline or where the simple geometry does not tell the whole story.
How national and technical standards apply
Where a proposal is more complex than the SPD's rules of thumb can resolve, or where a larger residential scheme is involved, daylight and sunlight are assessed using the recognised national methodology:
- BRE BR 209, Site Layout Planning for Daylight and Sunlight: A Guide to Good Practice (2022, third edition) - covering daylight to existing windows (vertical sky component and daylight distribution), sunlight (annual probable sunlight hours), and overshadowing to gardens and amenity areas.
- BS EN 17037 Daylight in buildings - used to assess daylight provision within new dwellings.
- The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) - which promotes well-designed places and the efficient use of land, applied locally through JCS Policies CP27 and CP29.
East Hampshire does not publish numerical BRE targets of its own; instead, the BRE guide and BS EN 17037 are applied through the amenity and design tests in the Local Plan, supported by the SPD's local rules.
Local considerations across East Hampshire
- The National Park boundary. Because the South Downs National Park Authority is the planning authority for the southern and central downland parts of the district, it is essential to confirm at the outset whether a site is administered by the district council or the National Park Authority - the SPD and its 45-degree rule apply only outside the Park.
- Historic and constrained settlements. Towns such as Alton and Petersfield contain tightly built historic cores and conservation areas where extensions can readily engage the 45-degree daylight test and the 21-metre separation guidance, so careful design is important.
- Growth at Whitehill & Bordon. The major regeneration and growth at Whitehill & Bordon brings forward higher-density housing where daylight to new homes and sunlight to gardens are key to good living conditions.
If your project is just over the border in another Hampshire authority, you may also find our guide to daylight requirements in Havant useful for comparison.
How Fortress Associates can help
Fortress Associates provides our daylight and sunlight report service to BRE BR 209 (2022) and BS EN 17037, addressing the amenity and design tests in East Hampshire's Joint Core Strategy Policies CP27 and CP29 and the council's householder SPD, including its 45-degree daylight rule. We work UK-wide with a 4 to 5 working day turnaround and no advance payment required. We also prepare Building Regulations drawings. To discuss an East Hampshire scheme, contact our team.
Sources & further reading
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