A city man has won his appeal against a bizarre council decision which would have prevented him from looking out of his windows.
Monty Chamberlain was given permission to build a 3.5m extension onto his two-storey home in Onley Street in the Golden Triangle - provided the windows were installed with "obscure glazing".
Norwich City Council argued this was "to prevent overlooking and to protect the amenity and living conditions of adjacent residential properties".
Concerns had been raised about the extension being overbearing and the plans including a pair of roof lights built within the sloping roof.
This was linked to the height of the extension being taller than the close-boarded fencing which marks the boundary between the two properties.
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As such, officers said it was "reasonable" to add a condition requiring windows to be obscure glazed.
However, the decision came despite city council documents showing no objections had been lodged from neighbours.
And Mr Chamberlain had argued the sloped design of the roof would "minimise" the overbearing issue.
The homeowner subsequently took an appeal to the national Planning Inspectorate, which - having carried out a visit to the property - decided to overturn the city council's decision.
Its judgement states: "Given the limited size of the extension, the acute angle would ensure that no meaningful views would be possible between the first floor window and the proposed roof windows.
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"Given the orientation in relation to [the neighbour] and the lower eaves height of the extension, the development would not result in a significant loss of natural light for the [neighbours].
"I conclude that the condition requiring the installation of obscure glazing to the roof windows is unnecessary.
"The appeal should be allowed... I will vary the planning permission by deleting the disputed condition."
Mr Chamberlain declined to comment when contacted by this newspaper.
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