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Planning Process

5 min read



What Planning Officers Really Look For in Daylight & Sunlight Reports
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Discover the three factors that make daylight and sunlight reports credible to planners. Clarity, transparency, and data reliability.
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TL;DR:
Planning officers are busy reviewing planning applications. They want clarity (the “so what?”), transparency (no black boxes), and credibility (verified data). Reports that deliver all three move through approval faster.

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Planning officers don’t want waffle or 100-page documents full of unclear spreadsheets. They want clarity, confidence, and compliance—and they want to find it quickly.

Most officers have only minutes to decide whether a daylight and sunlight report is credible. If it’s confusing, ambiguous, or appears to look like a “black box,” it will trigger questions and RFIs (Requests for Information), delaying your application by weeks.

After working with various local authorities across a wide range of schemes, we’ve identified the three factors that consistently move applications forward.


Clarity: The “So What?” in Seconds
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Planning officers have limited time. Your report must communicate the “so what” (outcome) clearly and immediately.

That’s why we prioritise clear language, structured summaries,and intuitive colour-coded diagrams. An officer can see the impact, understand the results, and make a confident decision.


Transparency: No Black Boxes
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Planners need to trust how the results were generated.

Our reports are clearly written and show the methodology,assumptions, inputs, and modelling approach. Nothing is hidden, no vague processes, no unexplained outputs. This transparency builds credibility and reassures officers that the analysis is reliable and robust and not manipulated.


Credibility: Verified, Defensible Data
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Even the clearest report fails if the underlying data is inaccurate.

We always declare the source and reliability of our data, whether a desktop model for a low-risk domestic site or a full 3D laser scan for a complex urban scheme. This “fit-for-purpose” precision (see our Planning Process article) gives planners the confidence to make a fast, defensible decision.


The Result: Faster, Smoother Approvals


Our reports are intentionally presented to be visual, concise,and defensible. They answer an officer’s likely questions before they arise, keeping your project on track and out of committee limbo.

The goal isn’t building the paperwork. The goal is the planning permission.

Concerned about planning approval? We can show you exactly what a planning-officer-ready report looks like.
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