A LORRY driver has told how he feared his home would feel “like a prison” after fighting a £65,000 High Court battle to stop his neighbours from building a new house just metres away.
Paul Knights, 59, from Gillingham, Norfolk, took South Norfolk District Council to court after they approved his neighbours’ plans for a two-storey home next to his property.
The council’s decision was later overturned by a Deputy High Court judge, who ruled there had been an “error in law” because officials failed to properly consider a “right to light” survey Mr Knights had commissioned.
Speaking after the ruling, Mr Knights said he had been left out of pocket by £30,000 despite winning the case, and had spent more than a year “living on a knife edge”.
He said: “I’ve got a type of ivy on my fence, and beyond that it would just be sheer brick wall.
“Not being funny, but you don’t want to sit in your living room and feel like you’re in a prison where all you can see is brick walls, do you?”
Mr Knights, who has lived in his home for 32 years, hired surveyors Right of Light Consulting to measure how the proposed build would affect sunlight coming into his living room.
Their report, sent to the council in July 2024, warned that he could lose up to two-thirds of the natural light to one of his windows, calling the impact “very harmful”.
But the neighbours disputed the findings, claiming the survey had used “the wrong location” for the planned house.
The surveyors stood by their data, saying it was accurate.
Two months later, the council’s planning officer recommended approval for the build, but did not mention the rebuttal survey.
The officer also claimed the original study was based on an incorrect boundary, saying the “risk of overshadowing is reduced and is minimal”.
Planning permission was granted soon after.
Mr Knights challenged the decision in court, arguing that his evidence had been ignored.
The council insisted the rebuttal was not a “material consideration” and therefore did not need to be taken into account.
But Deputy High Court Judge Neil Cameron KC disagreed, ruling that the omission was an “error of law” and quashing the planning permission.
Mr Knights said the fight had cost him dearly despite the victory.
“It’s taken around 16 months and I’m still out of pocket after getting some of my costs reimbursed by £30,000,” he said.
“It was about £65,000 in total, along with the right to light survey I submitted, there was also a letter from a solicitors that said to grant the planning permission would be illegal.
“The council ignored that as well.”
He added that he may take further action if the council tries to reapprove the plans.
“The system is solely set up on the side of the council,” he said.
“Obviously if they grant it again, I will talk to a solicitor about a possible judicial review again.
“But the reality is, if they make a good enough excuse as to why they’ve passed it, it’ll be very very hard to get it thrown out again.”
Mr Knights said if the home does go ahead, he may be forced to leave.
“I’m just hoping the council will be forced to look at it in a different light.
“If they build it, I probably will end up having to move.
“It’s not fair on my wife, she spends more time here than I do, but even myself.
“I’m not going to be comfortable sitting in a living room where I’m looking at brick walls when I look out a window.
“I don’t want to sit here of an evening in summer with my lights on because the living room is dark, only to look out my window to see a brick wall.”
The Sun has contacted South Norfolk District Council for comment.
