Daylight requirements in Newark and Sherwood are not set by a single numerical standard. Instead, they are assessed through the district council's adopted Local Plan policies on residential amenity and design, supported by national technical guidance. If you are extending a home in Newark-on-Trent, building new dwellings in a Sherwood Forest village, or bringing forward a larger scheme anywhere in the district, understanding how the local planning authority weighs loss of light is essential to a smooth application.
Newark and Sherwood District Council is the local planning authority (LPA) for the area — not Nottinghamshire County Council. The county handles matters such as minerals, waste and education, but decisions on householder extensions, residential layouts and most new development rest with the district council. This guide explains the policy framework that applies and how a daylight and sunlight assessment supports it.
The adopted Local Plan in Newark and Sherwood
The development plan for the district is made up of two principal documents. The Amended Core Strategy DPD, adopted by Full Council on 7 March 2019, sets the strategic policies. The Allocations & Development Management DPD, adopted on 16 July 2013, provides the detailed criteria-based policies used to determine day-to-day planning applications. A new plan is emerging through the council's ongoing Plan Review, but until that is adopted the 2019 and 2013 documents remain the basis for decisions.
Two policies are central to how light and amenity are considered:
Policy DM5 – Design
Policy DM5 requires that all proposals are assessed against a set of criteria, applied in accordance with Core Policy 9 (Sustainable Design) of the Amended Core Strategy. Its amenity criterion states that:
“The layout of development within sites and separation distances from neighbouring development should be sufficient to ensure that neither suffers from an unacceptable reduction in amenity including overbearing impacts, loss of light and privacy.”
The explicit reference to loss of light and overbearing impacts is what makes daylight and sunlight a material consideration. The policy also makes clear that existing development which could harm new dwellings should be taken into account, and that development which cannot be afforded an adequate standard of amenity — or which creates an unacceptable standard for others — will be resisted.
Policy DM6 – Householder Development
For extensions, outbuildings, annexes and similar works, Policy DM6 sets the test. Permission will be granted provided, among other criteria, that:
- there is “no adverse impact on the amenities of neighbouring users including loss of privacy, light and overbearing impact”; and
- the layout and separation distances are sufficient to avoid an unacceptable reduction in amenity through overlooking, loss of privacy or overbearing impacts.
Policy DM6 expressly states that the methods by which these criteria will be assessed are set out in a Supplementary Planning Document — which brings us to the council's design guidance.
Daylight and sunlight guidance: the Householder Development SPD
Newark and Sherwood adopted its Householder Development Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) in September 2014. This SPD expands on Policy DM6 and is the document officers turn to when assessing the amenity impact of extensions, including the effect on a neighbour's light. It addresses matters such as the positioning of development close to shared boundaries, the bulk and massing of extensions, and the separation distances needed to protect daylight, sunlight, outlook and privacy.
Importantly, the SPD provides a framework rather than a rigid set of numbers; the council's stated approach is not to adopt prescriptive standards but to judge each site on its merits. Where a proposal sits close to a boundary, or where windows and bulk could materially reduce a neighbour's light, a technical daylight and sunlight assessment is the clearest way to demonstrate that the DM5 and DM6 amenity tests are met.
How daylight and sunlight are measured: BRE BR 209 (2022)
Because the district's policies and SPD set the principle — protecting light — rather than the method, planning officers rely on national technical guidance to quantify impact. The recognised benchmark across England, including Newark and Sherwood, is the Building Research Establishment's BRE Report BR 209, Site Layout Planning for Daylight and Sunlight: A Guide to Good Practice (third edition, 2022). It provides the established numerical tests used to judge whether a scheme is acceptable:
- Vertical Sky Component (VSC) — daylight reaching a neighbouring window, with 27% the headline target and a 0.8 times relative test for material reduction.
- No Sky Line / Daylight Distribution — how far daylight penetrates into a room.
- Annual Probable Sunlight Hours (APSH) — sunlight to relevant windows, particularly those facing within 90 degrees of due south.
Alongside BR 209, BS EN 17037 sets recommendations for daylight provision within new homes, and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) directs authorities to secure a high standard of amenity while making efficient use of land. These national standards apply in Newark and Sherwood through the Local Plan's amenity and design policies rather than as free-standing rules.
Two local factors worth bearing in mind
Newark and Sherwood is a varied district, and context shapes how the policies bite:
- Newark-on-Trent's historic core. Newark is a town with deep history — it withstood three sieges during the English Civil War, and its medieval street pattern and conservation areas mean tightly grouped buildings and narrow plots. In these settings, separation distances are short and the loss-of-light tests under DM5 and DM6 are especially sensitive.
- Sherwood Forest's villages and rural setting. Across the western parishes — the historic landscape associated with Sherwood Forest — development is often lower density and set within established greenery. Here, mature trees and existing dwellings can themselves limit daylight, a factor the council expressly asks applicants to take into account.
A site-specific daylight and sunlight report lets you address these conditions head-on rather than leaving them to be raised as an objection later.
When you are likely to need a daylight and sunlight report
You should consider a professional assessment where:
- a two-storey extension or new building sits close to a neighbour's habitable-room windows;
- a proposal in Newark's town centre or a conservation area has limited separation distances;
- a neighbour has objected on grounds of lost light or an overbearing impact; or
- you want to demonstrate, up front, that your scheme satisfies Policies DM5 and DM6 and the Householder Development SPD.
How Fortress Associates can help
Fortress Associates prepares clear, policy-ready daylight and sunlight assessments to BRE BR 209 (2022), BS EN 17037 and the NPPF, written to align with Newark and Sherwood's adopted Local Plan policies and Householder Development SPD. We work nationwide with a 4–5 working day turnaround and no advance payment. Learn more about our daylight and sunlight report service, explore our services, or get in touch to discuss your Newark and Sherwood project.
You may also find our companion guide useful: Daylight Requirements in Mansfield, covering the neighbouring Nottinghamshire authority.
Sources & further reading
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