Hillingdon Council has approved plans for a six-storey block of flats on Tavistock Road in West Drayton, despite objections from neighbours who say the building will leave parts of their homes in deep shadow.
Parents living in nearby Fitzroy Court said the decision means their five-year-old daughter will “grow up in darkness” after the council backed the scheme on Wednesday, October 14. The family had argued that the height of the development and its closeness to their flat would sharply reduce sunlight reaching their daughter’s bedroom.
The approved scheme is for a six-storey block, lower than an earlier eight-storey proposal for the site. But residents who opposed it say the impact on existing homes remains severe, particularly for flats facing the new building at close range.
Residents say bedrooms will lose light
Georges Farhart, who lives in Fitzroy Court with his wife Justyna and their daughter, criticised the outcome after speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. He said: “As a social care manager who spends my days advocating for vulnerable people, it is staggering to see elected officials completely abandon their duty of care to their own constituents.”
The couple had objected in writing during the planning process. They said their daughter’s bedroom would rarely receive sunlight if the scheme went ahead, with light levels reduced by 80 per cent compared with current conditions. According to the report presented to councillors, that impact was considered acceptable because bedrooms are treated differently in daylight and sunlight assessments.
Justyna, an architect, disputed that reasoning. She said bedrooms are classed as habitable rooms under the same standards as living rooms and argued there should be no suggestion that they matter less when assessing the effect of a new building on neighbours.
Why the council approved the scheme
The decision came after a planning committee meeting in which committee chair and Ruislip councillor Philip Corthorne referred to the possible cost of a future appeal when concluding the discussion. That remark angered some residents, who felt the committee had prioritised the risk of legal challenge over the living conditions of people already in the area.
A council planning officer told the meeting that daylight and sunlight had already been examined in detail during an earlier appeal. The officer said guidance from the Building Research Establishment leans away from protecting bedroom windows because residents spend less time awake in them, and added that the six-storey proposal performs better than the previously approved eight-storey version.
That earlier planning history was central to the latest decision. Hillingdon Council had originally refused an application for an eight-storey building with 32 flats because of concerns over height and loss of light. But the developer appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, and an independent inspector overturned the refusal and approved the scheme in September 2022. That permission was not built within the three-year time limit.
What neighbours say will be built near their windows
Residents said the approved design will still have a major effect on homes in Fitzroy Court. On the first floor, they say a large brick wall and a ground-floor terrace structure will stand between 3 metres and 3.5 metres directly in front of some bedroom windows. Other neighbours are expected to face a wall around 9 metres away.
Justyna said councillors failed to focus on the effect on existing residents during the committee meeting. She said: “Not a single question from the councillors was about what’s going to happen to residents. Not a single question, not a single concern.”
Hillingdon Council rejected the suggestion that residents’ concerns were ignored. A spokesperson said it was unfair to claim the objections had not been properly considered, adding that the impact on neighbouring properties formed an important part of the planning assessment. The council said the committee had to take account of the site’s planning history, including the earlier inspector’s ruling, and noted that the newly approved development is two storeys and about six metres lower than the previously approved scheme.
The council also said the Planning Inspector had already considered daylight and living conditions and found the development acceptable in planning terms. It added that residents’ objections were assessed alongside the planning history, the inspector’s earlier decision and officers’ recommendations.
Linea UB7, the developer named in the report, was contacted for comment.
