A red van travelling close to lightless porches (8)
I believe the answer is:
verandas
'porches' is the definition.
(veranda is a kind of porch)
'a red van travelling close to lightless' is the wordplay.
'travelling' is an anagram indicator.
'close to' says to take the final letters (the close/ending of).
The final letter of 'lightless' is 's'.
'a'+'red'+'van'='aredvan'
'aredvan' is an anagram of 'veranda'.
'veranda'+'s'='VERANDAS'
(Other definitions for verandas that I've seen before include "Porches alongside buildings" , "Porches outside buildings" , "Large open porches" .)