Invasion of privacy

[Yellowbutterfly1]

Looking for advise for a friend.

They live in a an area of bungalows. Somebody purchased one of the bungalows and managed to obtain planning permission to change it into what is effectively an ordinary 2 story house (the roof height has been raised a lot) despite objections.
Part of the planning permission was that the dormer windows on the side of the roof which look directly into my friends house, her neighbours and one other house would have to be non opening with opaque glass.

They fitted fully opening windows with clear glass.

Despite constant emails to the planning department who acknowledge they are in breach and say they have been in contact asking when the windows will be changed nothing ever happens and it’s now almost a year.

My friend and her neighbour feel really intimidated as the owner often stands at one of the windows and just stares at them and they have absolutely no privacy now.

Any advice on what they can do as they can’t seem to to get anywhere with the council.

Thanks all

Complain to the local gov ombudsman.

I will pass that on, thank you Ginger

Councils have a lot of discretion about taking enforcement action (or not as the case may be) but they should still have to justify any decision not to act.

The council just say that they have spoken to the owners to get a timeframe for the windows to be changed but never actually tell my friend when that is due to be so each month she emails them and just gets the same kind of answer.

They also say they will continue to monitor the site and keep the case open until the works are complete but have to allow the owners more time due to the current circumstances.
The windows have been in almost a year now and the council and my friend has been trying to get the council to sort out the breach since last autumn.

Even with the current circumstances I think they have had more than enough time and the fact the owner likes to stand and stare at my friend and her neighbour seems like they have no intention and never had any to change the windows. It’s like a finger up at them for complaining to the council.

Maybe I should tell my friend to take a photo when the owner is staring at them.

The council and the LGO can’t really get involved in the neighbour dispute but it probably is worth her complaining formally to the council first about the breach of planning and then on to the ombudsman if she’s not happy. No guarantees of anything though. She might want to seek legal advice in case there’s any private route she can take

Has she spoken to her councillor?

I wouldn’t have thought it would be regarded as a neighbour dispute, my friend has never even met the owner.
This is just down to a breach of planning.

If the council actually bothered to to their job and make them adhere to the planning conditions then the owner wouldn’t be able to stare at people In their own homes as the glass would be opaque.

The local councillor is as much use as a chocolate teapot in most things but she has nothing to lose contacting them.

If they complain formally to the council, is it the head of planning they contact?

@Yellowbutterfly1 No, I would complain to the complaints team, making clear it’s a formal complaint. Unless the council has some other means of complaining about lack of planning enforcement.

I've had an almost identical situation & called my council. They sent someone the same day to inspect (surprise inspection) & emailed me the same day to say the glass would be changed to obscure in 8 weeks & the handle will be removed to make it non openable. If I ever saw the neighbour open that window I was to inform them. I was super pleased!!

Has she spoken specifically to the enforcement part of the planning team?

Also worth talking to a local councillor, as suggested above.

Write a formal complaint to head of planning and copy it to her local Councillor and MP. Set out when and how she has previously contacted the Council. State that she wants to be informed of the council's course of action within the next 2 weeks.

If that doesn't work, letter of complaint to the Council's Chief Executive. The Council's formal complaints procedure should be on their website. She needs to have gone through that in order to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman, which would be her final step. Make sure she keeps her MP informed at each stage.

The Council should be able to serve a Breach if Condition Notice requiring the neighbour to install windows in accordance with the original planning permission.