Hammersmith and Fulham council at ‘fault’ over development with view into woman’s home

By Jacob Phillips, Local Democracy Reporter

A town hall has had to pay for a screen to be put up after a new development was built looking straight into a woman’s home.

Hammersmith and Fulham council failed to enforce a planning condition to make sure a new study was built with translucent glazing to ensure the woman’s privacy, according to an ombudsman report.

The woman, referred to only as Ms Y, complained in early 2020 that the new study looked straight into her living room. The council initially granted planning permission for alterations to a building and the demolition of another building on a site at the back of Ms Y’s property.

An officer said that the first-floor study would be glazed with translucent glass so that people in the building couldn’t see into Ms Y’s property. But clear double glazing was put in three areas of the study with white double glazing in a fourth spot.

A planning enforcement officer contacted the developer’s agent referring to the original planning permission and explained the clear windows would need to be replaced.

But because the council had approved changes to the original planning permission – including using clear-glazed windows instead of translucent in parts of the study – the developers were not required to change them. Instead, the property’s owner offered to put curtains up.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council accepted its officers overlooked the privacy requirements and approved clear glazing in error. Although it was not the council’s intention to allow clear glass, after seeking legal advice the council found it cannot make the owner install translucent glass.

Pictured: Hammersmith and Fulham council building