Daylight and Sunlight Assessments in Bromley

Bromley is London's largest borough by area and most of it is suburban, which shapes the daylight work we do here. The typical instruction is not a dense infill but a detached or semi-detached house in Orpington, Petts Wood, Chislehurst, Bickley or West Wickham being enlarged on a wide plot, where the new flank wall or raised roof faces a neighbour's side bedroom window across a driveway. The second most common is the subdivision: a large house in Green Street Green, Farnborough or Hayes converted into a pair of semis or into flats, which brings extensions on two or three sides at once. Then there are the tighter Victorian streets of Penge, Anerley and Beckenham, and the taller schemes around Bromley North and the town centre, which behave more like inner London.

Bromley's officers do not ask for a daylight and sunlight assessment on every householder scheme. They ask for one when a specific relationship worries them, and they tend to say exactly which window. The case study below is a good example: a pre-application concern about one first-floor flank window, carried through into the application, and answered with a report scoped to that window rather than a study of the whole street. If you are working out whether you need a report at all, our main daylight and sunlight assessment page is the place to start.

Recent daylight and sunlight assessments in Bromley

2 Lezayre Road, Green Street Green, Orpington, BR6: one flank window, one targeted report

The scheme converts a detached house into a pair of semi-detached dwellings, with first-floor and rear extensions and a double garage. The case officer remained concerned about the neighbour's first-floor flank bedroom window and asked for an assessment justifying the new flank wall given its height and orientation. We tested that window for Vertical Sky Component and sunlight against the BRE guidelines and set out what the new wall would and would not change for that room.

The report was supplied to the council while the application was being determined. The application, 25/00390/FULL1, was granted on 21 January 2026.

What Bromley planning officers look for

Bromley's approach to daylight and sunlight is set by the Bromley Local Plan, adopted in January 2019. Its design and amenity policies require development to protect the amenity of neighbouring occupiers, including their access to daylight and sunlight, and to avoid creating a sense of enclosure. Officers apply the BRE guidance BR 209: Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight (2022 edition), and because so much of the borough is suburban they apply the BRE benchmarks with regard to local context, as the guidance itself advises: a window that already sees a wide sky across a side passage is expected to keep most of it.

For householder schemes, Bromley's Urban Design Guide SPD sets out how those policies are applied to extensions, roof alterations and loft conversions, including the 45-degree and distance tests officers use as a first screen before asking for a BRE assessment. You can find the Local Plan at bromley.gov.uk/bromley-local-plan and the supplementary planning guidance at bromley.gov.uk/supplementary-planning-guidance. Bromley has also moved its public planning register to a new system at planningaccess.bromley.gov.uk, so older links to the previous portal no longer work.

What we have learned from Bromley applications is that the officer's letter usually tells you the scope. If it names one window, a report on that window, with the existing and proposed VSC and sunlight hours and a plain explanation, is what gets the application moving. If it refers to "the neighbouring properties" generally, or the scheme adds a storey, expect to test every rear and flank window within reach.

When you need an assessment in Bromley

• Two-storey side extensions and first-floor additions to detached houses in Orpington, Petts Wood, Chislehurst and Bickley, where the new flank wall faces a neighbour's side window across a driveway
• Conversions of large houses into pairs of semis or into flats in Green Street Green, Farnborough, Hayes and Shortlands, which usually mean extensions on more than one side
• Rear extensions and roof enlargements on the Victorian terraces of Penge, Anerley and Beckenham, where neighbouring windows are much closer
• New houses on garden plots and backland sites in West Wickham, Keston and Biggin Hill with neighbours on three sides
• Taller residential schemes around Bromley North, the town centre and Orpington High Street, which need an internal daylight assessment as well as a neighbour study
• Any application where the case officer has written to say that a daylight concern raised at pre-application still stands

How we work

We build a 3D model of the scheme and its neighbours from your drawings, mapping data and photographs, with no need to visit the neighbouring house, and run the BRE tests on every window and garden that could be affected, or on the single window the officer has named. The fee is fixed and agreed up front, and the report usually takes 4–5 working days from final drawings. The four tests are:

• Vertical Sky Component (VSC): how much sky a neighbouring window can see
• No-Sky Line (NSL), or daylight distribution: how far daylight reaches into the room
• Annual Probable Sunlight Hours (APSH): annual and winter sunlight to windows within 90 degrees of south
• Sun on ground: whether at least half of a garden still gets two hours of sun on 21 March

Our VSC, NSL and APSH page explains how each test works and our BRE guidelines page sets out the thresholds.

Frequently asked questions in Bromley

The officer has asked about one neighbour's window. Do I need a report on the whole street?

No. In Bromley a targeted report on the window the officer has named is usually enough, as it was on Lezayre Road. We will tell you if the scheme's height or depth means other windows are likely to be raised later, so you can include them now rather than pay twice.

Does Bromley relax the BRE targets because the borough is suburban?

Not relax, but apply in context. A side window across a wide driveway in Petts Wood starts with far more sky than a window in a Penge terrace, so a modest reduction can still leave it well above the BRE 27 per cent VSC benchmark. The report shows the existing value as well as the proposed one so the officer can see that.

Should I get the report before pre-application or after?

If the scheme adds a storey or a long flank wall next to a neighbour's side window, before. Bromley's pre-application responses are specific, and arriving with the daylight evidence already in hand usually shortens the conversation.

Get a fixed-fee quote

Send your drawings, or the officer's letter, through our contact page, or get an instant figure from the price calculator. Call Nick on 01962 809155 or email nick@sunlightassessments.co.uk. For sites on the Penge and Beckenham side of the border, our Lewisham page covers that council's approach.