planning woes/breach of privacy

[windmill33]

Hello,
I am wondering if anyone can offer any useful advice - or been in a similar situation. My next door neighbours have completed a rear extension and put up a balcony, which looks directly into my kitchen/diner, at a distance of around 9-10 metres away. Their application made no mention of a balcony; only stepped access to their raised decking. The planning officers report clearly stated that there would be no views into neighbouring properties rooms from this decking, but this has transpired not to be the case. The planning dept told them to lower the 'balcony' which it is - with glass balustrades - but have said that is all they can do, although I have pointed out that similar applications locally were granted only with privacy screens as a condition. Even having lowered it, they still have a clear view in to the kitchen diner. The plans which they submitted showed that a figure standing on this 'stepped access' would not see over the fence into my home. I feel that the planners were at fault for allowing this - by either not checking the height of the balcony properly, or by not taking into account the breach of my privacy. I did raise my privacy as a concern at the outset, but accepted what was stated in the P.O final report, that there would be no views into neighbouring properties. If anyone's had a similar experience or knowledge of something similar, please let me know. Apologies if I've posted in the wrong place - first time poster!

It's a little hard to understand the set up, do you mean the balcony is at ground level or first floor level? If it's at ground level, does the fence between you not stop them looking into your kitchen, or is there a height difference between their property and yours?

Can you draw a side-on picture of their property and yours?

Thanks for your message; our properties are built on a slope at the rear; so the balcony is effectively first floor level; more or less level with the k.d and so there is a very clear view through my kitchen diner windows into the room at a fairly close distance - around 9-10 meters. They didn't have any view in before (sorry but my drawing skills aren't up to much). As mentioned, the planning officers final report stated that there would be no views into neighbouring properties and their approved plans showed a figure, standing on the balcony would not be any higher than the existing fence, so there wouldn't be a view in. So those plans, it seems to me, were clearly incorrect - as was the statement in the officers report...

I think your best bet is to look at your Planning department website and see if there's a complaint procedure outlined and submit a complaint in writing.

Thank you, yes I've already done that. They won't do anything as they state that the balcony is now the height that was on the original plans, although I cannot see any measurements on the plans submitted. But my point is that I relied on what was stated in the P.O's final report that there would not be any views into neighbouring rooms and also their submitted drawings showing again that there was no view into my home.

Have you been on the balcony and seen the view in?

If you’ve been through the complaints process and it’s not been resolved to your satisfaction, the next potential step is to go to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. They have lots of advice notes on their website about what they can and can’t do in planning matters,

I haven't been on the balcony, no, but the view in is very clear - when the builders were there standing on it, they were staring in and waving at me, so no question, unfortunately, that they can see in. Yes, thanks I will go through the L.G.O, although I know someone who went through a planning complaint with them and they really just sided with the council completely; I read their decision and it seemed really quite biased. I was really wondering if there was anyone out there who'd had a similar experience, in terms of breach of privacy and how far they had to take it and how, if at all, it was resolved. Thanks to you both for taking the time to read and comment on my post ,

How high would a hedge of tree have to be to block them?

Your have 2 courses of action. Formal complaints as others have said. And then personal action I e. Block the view to restore privacy. Who owns the fence? Can it be raised to 2m? You could apply for planning to go higher than 2m but it'll cost and may be rejected.
Can you plant a tree? Or a row of trees? Pleached hornbeam seems the legal way to create a greater than 2m privacy screen of more than one tree.

I'm currently considering which tree or trees to block my inconsiderate neighbour's development. No balcony but floor to ceiling glass which is allowed under permitted development!

Thank you yes, I'll look into this but the problem is there isn't a lot of space to plant anything that large my side. One way glass has also been suggested to me as an option in my kitchen/diner, tho this sounds quite expensive! Where I am with it at the moment is just not understanding how planning permission could have been granted for soemthing which is such a clear breach of privacy - the officer must have taken a measurement from their side and realised that the height of the balcony would mean people on it would have a direct and close view into my home. And yet his report says otherwise. As I understand it, they couldn't put up a balcony under permitted development as planning permission is always needed for this. Other people in the road who also applied for permission for a balcony were only given permission if they had opaque glass privacy screens put up - which I would be fine with here, but no condition was imposed on my neighbours. I have to say it all feels a bit odd. If anyone has had experience with the LGO on this kind of issue, I'd love to hear!
Thanks for all suggestions and comments,