The case of Forster v The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & Ors [2016] EWCA Civ 609 centred on a planning inspector’s grant of permission to a housing association for the demolition of a single storey building in Stepney – previously home to Stepney’s Nightclub – and the erection in its place of a three storey building with commercial uses on the ground floor and six flats on the floors above. Tower Hamlets Council had previously refused permission.

In August 2015 Mr Justice Lindblom (as he then was) dismissed a claim brought by the appellant under s. 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

The appellant, the owner of the George Tavern, took her case to the Court of Appeal, where she argued:

There was a risk, unacknowledged by the inspector, that complaints from residents of the new flats might ultimately lead to the revocation of her late night music licence or the grant of an injunction in a private nuisance claim. This would curtail the activities that kept the George going;

There would be reduced sunlight and daylight at the George, which was used as a studio for artists and photographers and as a film location.

Giving the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Laws allowed the appeal on the light issue, but not on the noise issue. …”