Daylight requirements in Havant sit at the heart of many residential planning decisions across the borough, from infill plots in Leigh Park to coastal extensions on Hayling Island. Whether you are adding a rear extension, building a new dwelling in a back garden, or bringing forward a larger scheme, Havant Borough Council expects you to demonstrate that your proposal protects the daylight, sunlight and amenity of neighbouring homes. This guide explains the local policy framework, the council's own published daylight guidance, and how a professional assessment can support your application.
Daylight requirements in Havant: the policy framework
Havant Borough Council is the local planning authority for the borough. Hampshire County Council is the upper-tier authority but is not the planning authority for householder and most residential applications, so it is the borough's own adopted documents that matter.
The adopted development plan is the Havant Borough Local Plan, which is made up of two documents:
- the Core Strategy, adopted 1 March 2011, which sets the strategic direction and the borough-wide development management principles; and
- the Allocations Plan, adopted 23 July 2014, which identifies sites and adds detailed development management policies.
The council is also progressing an emerging local plan to replace these documents, but until that plan is adopted it is the 2011 Core Strategy and 2014 Allocations Plan that carry full weight in decision-making.
Policy CS16: High Quality Design
The key amenity policy is Policy CS16 (High Quality Design). It states that planning permission will be granted for development designed to a high standard, and requires that the design demonstrates, among other things, that:
"The development does not cause unacceptable harm to the amenity of neighbours through smell, the loss of privacy, outlook, noise and overlooking."
Although CS16 lists outlook, privacy and overlooking explicitly, loss of daylight and sunlight is firmly within the scope of "unacceptable harm to the amenity of neighbours," and it is routinely assessed under this policy on appeal and at committee.
Policy DM10 and amenity
Detailed development management policies, including Policy DM10, support CS16 by protecting the health, safety and amenity of existing and future occupiers from pollution and disturbance. Read together, CS16 and the development management policies form the amenity test that daylight and sunlight impacts are weighed against in Havant.
The Borough Design Guide SPD: Havant's published daylight guidance
Unlike some authorities that rely solely on national guidance, Havant has its own adopted, council-specific daylight guidance. The Havant Borough Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), adopted on 14 December 2011, supplements Policy CS16 and contains a dedicated section on daylight, sunlight and privacy. This makes it an unusually concrete reference point for applicants in the borough.
The key points the SPD sets out include:
- Daylight to new homes. New dwellings should maximise penetrable daylight, particularly to living rooms, dining rooms and kitchens, while balancing privacy and the character of the street.
- The 25-degree test. The SPD advises that acceptable daylight to interiors can generally be provided where there is a 25-degree vertical angle taken from a point 2 metres above ground level on the facing external facade, which it relates to a 10-metre minimum separation distance between dwellings.
- The BRE guide. Where an obstructing building exceeds that angle, the SPD directs applicants to further analysis using the vertical sky component method set out in the BRE report Site Layout Planning for Daylight and Sunlight - A Guide to Good Practice.
- Sunlight. The SPD warns that extensive obstruction of sunlight to an existing property or its garden by a new building or extension is likely to be unacceptable, and asks applicants to consider sunlight loss.
- Separation and privacy. The SPD sets indicative back-to-back distances of 20 metres between facing windows (increasing by 4 metres per additional storey, so 24 metres for a three-storey building facing a two-storey dwelling), 10 metres where a dwelling faces a blank gable, and a garden length normally allowing 10 metres between the dwelling and the boundary.
It is worth noting that the SPD's daylight section references the older British Standard (BS 8206 Part 2) and the 2002 edition of the BRE guide, reflecting the guidance available when it was adopted. Current best practice has since moved on, and assessments today are normally prepared to the latest standards described below.
How national and current technical standards apply in Havant
Because the borough's adopted SPD pre-dates the current technical guidance, daylight and sunlight assessments in Havant are now generally prepared to the up-to-date methodology while still answering the council's adopted policy tests. The framework most professionals apply is:
- BRE BR 209, Site Layout Planning for Daylight and Sunlight: A Guide to Good Practice (2022, third edition) - the recognised methodology for assessing daylight (vertical sky component and daylight distribution) and sunlight (annual probable sunlight hours) to existing and proposed dwellings, and overshadowing to gardens and amenity space.
- BS EN 17037 Daylight in buildings - the European standard now referenced for daylight provision within new dwellings.
- The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) - which supports making efficient use of land and securing well-designed places, and is applied through the borough's Local Plan policies such as CS16.
In practice, the council weighs the technical results of a BRE-based assessment against the amenity test in CS16 and the expectations of the Borough Design Guide SPD. A clear, properly prepared report helps demonstrate compliance and reduces the risk of objection or refusal.
Local considerations across Havant
Two features of the borough make daylight and sunlight matters particularly important locally:
- Dense, mixed-character residential areas. Areas such as Leigh Park, Bedhampton and Waterlooville include tightly arranged housing where back-to-back distances and the 25-degree daylight test from the SPD are frequently engaged on extensions and backland plots.
- Coastal and harbour setting. Hayling Island and the land around Langstone and Chichester Harbours - which include internationally designated habitats - mean orientation, plot layout and the relationship of buildings to open water and gardens are often scrutinised, and good daylight and sunlight design supports high-quality outcomes in these sensitive locations.
Whatever the location, the consistent theme is that Havant expects new development to avoid unacceptable harm to neighbours' daylight, sunlight, outlook and privacy, and to provide good internal daylight for future occupiers. If your project sits in a neighbouring Hampshire authority, see our companion guide on daylight requirements in East Hampshire.
How Fortress Associates can help
Fortress Associates prepares our daylight and sunlight report service to BRE BR 209 (2022) and BS EN 17037, addressing the amenity tests in Havant's Core Strategy Policy CS16 and the Borough Design Guide SPD. We work UK-wide with a 4 to 5 working day turnaround and no advance payment required. We also provide Building Regulations drawings to support your project. To discuss a Havant scheme, get in touch with our team.
Sources & further reading
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