Whether you are extending a home in Romsey, building out a site in Andover or developing in one of Test Valley's many rural villages, getting to grips with the daylight requirements in Test Valley early will help your application run smoothly. Unlike some neighbouring Hampshire authorities, Test Valley does not have a dedicated residential design SPD packed with named “rules of thumb”; instead it relies on a clear amenity policy in its adopted Local Plan, applied alongside recognised national daylight guidance. This guide explains how that works in practice and when a daylight and sunlight report is needed.
Who is the planning authority?
Test Valley Borough Council is the local planning authority (LPA) for the borough, which stretches from Andover in the north to Romsey and the edge of Southampton in the south. Hampshire County Council deals with strategic matters such as minerals and waste, but householder and residential planning applications are decided by the borough council, and it is the borough's adopted policies that set the daylight standards for your site.
Test Valley takes its name from the River Test, one of the world's most famous chalk streams, and the protection of this distinctive landscape and water environment runs through the borough's planning policies. Andover and Romsey are the two main towns, with much of the borough comprising attractive countryside and conservation-sensitive villages.
The adopted Test Valley Borough Revised Local Plan 2011 to 2029
The development plan is the Test Valley Borough Revised Local Plan (DPD) 2011–2029, adopted on 27 January 2016 following examination by an appointed Planning Inspector. It provides the policy basis for decisions on planning applications across the borough up to 2029.
The central policy for daylight and sunlight is Policy LHW4 (Amenity). It is unusually direct about light. Policy LHW4 states that development will be permitted provided that:
a) it provides for the privacy and amenity of its occupants and those of neighbouring properties; b) in the case of residential developments it provides for private open space in the form of gardens or communal open space which are appropriate for the needs of residents; and c) it does not reduce the levels of daylight and sunlight reaching new and existing properties or private open space to below acceptable levels.
Criterion (c) makes loss of daylight and sunlight an explicit policy test — not only to buildings but to private open space such as gardens. The supporting text reinforces this. Paragraph 8.21 explains that “new development should receive adequate daylight and sunlight to create satisfactory living and working environments and should not have an adverse impact on the levels of natural light received by adjacent properties”, and that associated open spaces “should not be overshadowed to the extent where daylight and sunlight levels are reduced to unacceptable levels”. Paragraph 8.19 frames residential amenity in terms of enjoying private open space “without being overlooked or experiencing overbearing effect”.
Design quality is addressed by Policy E1 (High Quality Development in the Borough), which requires new buildings to be carefully designed to respect and enhance their surroundings, with scale, height and massing assessed for their impact — all of which bear directly on overshadowing and light. Policy LHW4 and Policy E1 are therefore the two policies an applicant should read together when considering daylight in Test Valley.
Test Valley's daylight guidance position
Here Test Valley differs from some of its neighbours. The council's published list of Supplementary Planning Documents covers matters such as affordable housing, infrastructure and developer contributions, shopfront design, the Test Valley Access Plan and the Andover Town Centre Public Realm Design Guide — but there is no general residential extensions or design SPD setting out a 45-degree or 25-degree daylight test. Indeed, the Local Plan itself notes at paragraph 8.21 that “the Council is intending to produce a guidance note on how to assess the levels of daylight and sunlight”.
In the absence of a prescriptive local daylight code, the assessment of “acceptable levels” under Policy LHW4 is made by reference to nationally recognised guidance. In practice this means the Building Research Establishment's BRE BR 209, “Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight: a guide to good practice” (2022 edition), supported by BS EN 17037 for the internal daylight of new dwellings, and applied through the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the adopted Local Plan. BR 209 provides the established numerical tests — Vertical Sky Component (VSC), daylight distribution / the no-sky line, and Annual Probable Sunlight Hours (APSH) for sunlight — together with overshadowing assessment of gardens and amenity areas. These are the tools that give objective meaning to the “acceptable levels” wording in Policy LHW4.
When is a daylight and sunlight assessment needed?
Because Policy LHW4 protects daylight and sunlight to both buildings and private open space, any proposal close to a boundary, of significant height or massing, or likely to overshadow a neighbour's garden, can be expected to attract scrutiny on light. Where there is a credible concern that natural light to an existing or proposed property would fall below acceptable levels, a BRE-based daylight and sunlight assessment is the evidence the council will look for to demonstrate compliance with criterion (c). Submitting one proactively often resolves the question before it causes a delay or a refusal.
Local context worth noting
- Trees and daylight: Test Valley's Local Plan gives an unusual, locally specific daylight pointer at paragraph 7.23 — on housing developments, buildings should be placed far enough from trees to allow adequate daylight and sunlight to reach the properties, with “a distance of approximately 15 metres” suggested between a dwelling and the outer edge of a mature tree canopy. Given the borough's wooded, chalk-stream landscape, the interaction between retained trees and daylight is a recurring design issue.
- Andover and Romsey growth: Strategic allocations around Andover (such as Picket Twenty and East of Icknield Way) bring forward higher-density housing where daylight, sunlight and overshadowing between dwellings are key considerations under Policy LHW4.
How Fortress Associates can help
Fortress Associates prepares our daylight and sunlight report service to BRE BR 209 (2022), BS EN 17037 and the relevant Local Plan, giving you the VSC, daylight distribution, APSH and overshadowing evidence that Test Valley's Policy LHW4 requires to demonstrate “acceptable levels” of light. We work nationwide with a 4–5 working day turnaround and no advance payment, and we also produce Building Regulations drawings. If an officer or neighbour has raised loss of light, a clear technical report is usually the quickest route to a decision. Contact us to discuss your scheme. If you are working elsewhere in Hampshire, you may also find our guide to daylight requirements in Basingstoke and Deane helpful.
Sources & further reading
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