A South London man said he’ll feel like he’s “eating next to a tower block" after his neighbour was allowed to make his garden wall ten-feet tall, a planning meeting heard.

Doug Mahon, who lives in Greenwich, sent plans to Greenwich Council to make a side extension to his home, including side roof lights, a new front door and first floor window.

At a planning meeting for Greenwich Council on December 1, Gavin King, who lives next door to Mr Mahon’s house, said his own home would be impacted “the most” by the planned changes.

The neighbour said the extensions would cast “a large shadow” on his family’s kitchen and outdoor dining area.

Mr King said: “We’re in the kitchen all the time, like every other household.

"So the fact that it’s not a, how you would describe, habitable room, I kind of see as irrelevant because we’re actually in the kitchen more times awake than I am in bed.”

Mr Mahon’s plans include raising his garden wall from seven feet to ten feet, which Mr King feels is “too extreme”. 

The neighbour said the change would “destroy” the daylight landing on his house, and was worried about the new window in the extension overlooking his property.

He said: “With the current proposal, it’s going to be like eating next to a tower block, with a ten foot wall next to us.”

Doug Mahon said that the wall being raised faces north, so would not cast any light on his neighbour’s building.

He said: “Where the sun sets in the summer, it still doesn’t make any difference because it’s obscured by the buildings that are beyond that. So there isn’t any obscurity of light.”

Alex Smith, development officer at Greenwich Council, said: “The overshadowing in the later afternoon of any part of this garden would either be caused by an existing extending single storey or by [the neighbour’s house] itself in terms of this part of the garden.

"Admittedly, later in the evening there may be some impact, but for the majority of the day there is no impact upon sunlight, daylight or overshadowing.”

Mr Smith said that a previously denied application by Mr Mahon, which included a higher wall, also had no impact on sunlight for neighbours.

At the end of the discussion, the committee approved Mr Mahon’s plans to extend his house, on the condition that the changes are made to the property within three years.

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