Daylight and sunlight for a new build in Highams Park
A daylight or sunlight assessment for a new build in Highams Park is a specialist study, separate from the plans we draw. DrawingsDirect prepares the planning and building regulations drawings from £1,450. Waltham Forest Council, which decides E4 applications, granted 81% of its householder cases in the latest four quarters (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics).
Fixed fee from £1,250 drawings + £200 survey (£1,450 total) · all prices
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Who does the daylight work
Daylight and sunlight assessments, and rights of light advice, are not on our service list. We are chartered architectural technologists who draw the house. A consultant who specialises in light measures the effect of your building on neighbouring windows and gardens, and the council or a neighbour may ask for that report.
What we can do is give that consultant accurate plans, sections and heights to work from, and then adjust the design if the findings call for it.
Planning is one thing, a right to light is another
A planning decision looks at the effect of a new house on neighbours' outlook and light under the council's policy. A right to light is a separate legal matter between property owners and is not settled by planning permission. The two can point in different directions, so a scheme can be permitted and still draw a neighbour's complaint.
If the new house sits beside a shared boundary wall, our party wall guide covers the other notice you may owe.
The national register lists 15 conservation-area entries for Waltham Forest (our analysis of the Planning Data Platform conservation-area dataset, snapshot of 14 August 2026).
Why accurate heights matter
Light studies depend on the height and position of every window and roof near your plot. A measured building survey of the plot records the dimensions we draw from, so the section through your house and the neighbour's is true to the ground.
Heights are only half of it. The layout also has to meet the nationally described space standard, which asks for at least 39 m2 for a one-bedroom, one-person home, or 37 m2 with a shower room in place of a bathroom.
How Waltham Forest has treated applications
Waltham Forest made 1,406 planning decisions of every kind in the four quarters from 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, 771 of them householder decisions including prior approvals, and it granted 81% of the householder ones (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2). Householder cases do not predict a new house.
The Planning Inspectorate decided 193 householder appeals against the council between 2021 and 2026, and 36% were allowed (our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database, release 2609). For the council's own decision period on a case that is not major development, see article 34 of the 2015 Order: 8 weeks beginning with the day after it receives the application.
Conservation areas and the fee
The national register lists 15 conservation-area entries for Waltham Forest (our analysis of the Planning Data Platform conservation-area dataset, snapshot of 14 August 2026). Search the council's own map for your road, since the register count does not tell you about one address.
The national planning fee for a full application for fewer than 10 houses is £610 per dwellinghouse, as indexed from 1 April 2026. Our new-build drawings start from £1,450, and the London new-build drawings page describes the service. Our planning permission page for Waltham Forest covers the borough more broadly.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 1,406 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 771 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 81% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 193 | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 36% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 15 | Our analysis of MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area and article-4-direction datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 8 weeks | DMPO 2015 art 34(2)(b): decision period for an application that is not major development (source wording: "8 weeks beginning with the day immediately following that on which the application is received") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 37 | Technical housing standards, nationally described space standard (DCLG, March 2015), Table 1: a one-bedroom one-person dwelling needs at least 39 m2 gross internal area, or 37 m2 with a shower room instead of a bathroom (source wording: 39 (37)) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| £610 | Fees for planning applications in England from 1 April 2026 (MHCLG, SI 2012/2920 as annually indexed), category 1(3)(a): full application for the erection of fewer than 10 dwellinghouses, per dwellinghouse (source wording: "£610 for each dwellinghouse") | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| £1,450 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for new build house feasibility and planning drawings, from the published price list | drawingsdirect.co.uk |