Daylight Error Fatal to Planning Permission

The High Court has found that a daylight error was fatal to the grant of planning permission.

The Court quashed the permission for a mixed use development likely to adversely affect daylight reaching a neighbouring school’s playground due to an error of fact.

The developer had commissioned Twenty16 Design (T16 Design) to assess how much of the playground would be in shadow if the proposal went ahead. In the computer model created for the assessment, a fence was drawn around the playground in place of a two-metre brick wall, understating by a third the effect of the new scheme on the playground.

Daylight Error Quashes Planning

In Watt v London Borough of Hackney the judge confirmed that the error of fact justified quashing the permission. An independent assessment of the daylight found that the amount reaching the play area was above the relevant policy threshold, but not as far above as the original assessment had, wrongly, suggested.

Despite the fact that the daylight error may not have been decisive in the overall decision, the judge found that it was fatal to the grant of planning and was prepared to quash the permission. This judgement confirms the risk that faulty technical work creates for planning decisions, even where the error itself is not decisive.

Contact

With offices in London, Birmingham , Manchester, Bristol & Plymouth we are able to provide expert advice on sites all around the UK. Check out how our Royal Docks masterplan has been approved.

For more information on why this daylight analysis error was fatal to the grant of planning permission, please give us a call.

Also see our article on another planning permission quashed by a Judge due to a 'materially misleading' Daylight & Sunlight report.