Judge Quashes Planning over ‘Materially Misleading’ Daylight & Sunlight report

A High Court judge has quashed planning consent for a development of 62 flats in Tower Hamlets due to a misleading daylight & sunlight report by consultant Waldram's.

John Howell QC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge, quashed permission after hearing the case of local resident Melanie Rainbird.

Ms Rainbird successfully argued that the daylight effects of the new building on her property and her neighbours’ properties had not been properly assessed. She said that members of the Council’s Development Committee were ‘misled materially’ about the impact of the proposed development on the sunlight & daylight of neighbouring properties.

The daylight report, produced by Waldrams Limited, was ‘flawed by an apparent misconstruction of the BRE Guide’. The assumption on which it was written was that the daylight enjoyed by a room would only be significantly adversely affected if the daylight distribution guideline was also not met. The judge found that the BRE Guide was plain that there was likely to be a significant adverse effect if ‘either the VSC or daylight distribution guideline is not met’.

The judge also concluded that the Committee were misled that no habitable rooms would suffer a deterioration in their sunlight. They were also not told about the ‘material deterioration’ in the daylight to neighbouring properties, were not told what the daylight distribution guideline was, nor how many rooms would suffer a material deterioration of daylight in this respect. The analysis on which the report was based was also described as ‘flawed’.

For an example of planning being overturned due to misleading loss of light advice, check out our article on why expertise and honest advice are important for planning.