Understanding the daylight requirements in West Lancashire is essential for anyone planning a house extension, infill plot or larger residential scheme in Skelmersdale, Ormskirk, Burscough or the borough's many rural villages. West Lancashire Borough Council is the local planning authority (LPA) for this area; despite the name, Lancashire County Council does not determine most householder and residential planning applications here. This guide explains the local policy position and how daylight and sunlight are assessed in practice.
Daylight requirements in West Lancashire: the policy framework
The statutory development plan for the borough is the West Lancashire Local Plan 2012-2027, which was formally adopted on 16 October 2013 and remains the up-to-date plan against which applications are determined. The Council is preparing a new Local Plan covering the period to 2040; that emerging plan reached its Issues and Options stage in 2022 but has not yet been adopted, so the 2012-2027 plan continues to carry full weight.
Two policies are particularly relevant to daylight, sunlight and overshadowing:
- Policy GN3 (Criteria for Sustainable Development) requires that new development is of a scale, mass and built form that responds to its surroundings, and that it retains or creates reasonable levels of privacy, amenity and outlook for occupiers of both neighbouring and proposed dwellings. Impacts such as overlooking, overshadowing and loss of outlook are assessed under this policy.
- Policy GN1 (Settlement Boundaries) directs the location of new residential development, which is relevant because much of West Lancashire lies within the Green Belt and tightly defined settlement boundaries, meaning extensions and infill on constrained plots are common.
These development management policies sit alongside the strategic policies of the plan and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which requires development to secure a good standard of amenity for existing and future occupiers.
Is there a daylight and sunlight SPD in West Lancashire?
West Lancashire does not have a standalone Supplementary Planning Document dedicated solely to daylight and sunlight. The Council's principal design guidance is the Design Guide SPD (adopted January 2008), which supports the Local Plan and is used to assess separation distances, privacy, overlooking and the relationship between buildings. Other adopted SPDs include the Development in the Green Belt SPD (2015) and area-specific guidance such as the Skelmersdale Town Centre SPD and the Yew Tree Farm, Burscough Masterplan.
Because there is no bespoke numerical daylight standard adopted locally, daylight and sunlight assessments in West Lancashire are carried out against the recognised national technical guidance:
- BRE BR 209 (2022) – Site Layout Planning for Daylight and Sunlight: A Guide to Good Practice, the document planning officers rely on for tests such as the Vertical Sky Component (VSC), the no-sky line / daylight distribution, the Annual Probable Sunlight Hours (APSH) test and overshadowing of amenity space.
- BS EN 17037 – the British and European standard on daylight in buildings, increasingly referenced for the daylight provision of new dwellings.
- The NPPF and Planning Practice Guidance, applied through Policy GN3 and the wider Local Plan.
In short, the local plan provides the policy hook for amenity, and BRE BR 209 (2022) provides the technical method. A well-prepared daylight and sunlight report demonstrates compliance with both.
What this means for development in Skelmersdale, Ormskirk and the rural villages
West Lancashire has an unusually varied built form, and the daylight picture changes with the location:
- Skelmersdale, the borough's largest town, was developed as a New Town from the 1960s with distinctive low-rise estate layouts and significant areas earmarked for regeneration. Infill and redevelopment here often need to demonstrate that new massing does not reduce daylight to surrounding post-war housing below BRE BR 209 guideline values.
- Ormskirk is a historic market town with a tight, fine-grained centre and is home to Edge Hill University, so student accommodation, conversions and back-land development are frequent. Close-knit plots make VSC and overlooking assessments particularly important.
- The rural and Green Belt villages – including Burscough, Aughton, Tarleton and the area around Edge Hill – combine conservation sensitivities with constrained gardens, where a 45-degree and BRE-based assessment can be decisive for an extension proposal.
Submitting a clear, BRE-compliant daylight and sunlight report with your application helps the case officer reach a positive recommendation and reduces the risk of objections from neighbours about loss of light.
How Fortress Associates can help
Fortress Associates provides our daylight and sunlight report service for homeowners, architects and developers across West Lancashire and the rest of the UK. Our reports are prepared to BRE BR 209 (2022) and BS EN 17037 and are written to support your planning application under the relevant Local Plan policies. We typically deliver within a 4 to 5 working day turnaround, and there is no advance payment required. We also prepare Building Regulations drawings where your project needs them. See our full list of services or get in touch for a quote.
Sources & further reading
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