The original Good Quality Homes London Plan Guidance (LPG) referred to at least two hours of sunlight in the public realm on 21st March as a baseline measurement. However, there is no longer reference to this in the successor LPG on Housing Design Standards. What was the rationale for removing this and are there any plans to alter the text further?

The draft Good Quality Homes for All Londoners London Plan Guidance (LPG) included a number of standards (including the standard referring to two hours of sunlight in the public realm) that were taken from the BRE guidance called ‘Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight: a guide to good practice’. Following consultation feedback it was considered more appropriate to refer to the whole of the BRE guidance in the LPG than to take only particular extracts from it that would then be out of the context of the BRE guidance as a whole.

The BRE guidance is, and will continue to be, used as the starting point for assessing daylight and sunlight impacts for developments across the country, including London. The draft Housing Design Standards LPG refer to the BRE guidance; the housing design standards which cover daylight and sunlight are in addition to this and not a substitute for the BRE guidance. Responses to the consultation will be considered ahead of final publication.