24 Jun 2026
The light Park View Place would take
On a cold winter’s morning, the soft golden sun slowly thaws the frost on Grove Farm nature reserve. Stand in the main meadow and you can watch it happen: the yellow meadow ant hills thaw first, their little domes catching the light, then the rest of the grassland behind them. Under the plans for the Park View Place Development, parts of Grove Farm would never see that winter’s morning light again.
The Park View Place development is planned by Interland Group and Weston Homes to facilitate the construction of 882 new homes beside Grove Farm on the old car park of the Kellogg’s tower (now named Atrium Point). Homes on the site, built well and at a sensible height, could be welcome. What concerns us is not that there is development but that the current proposal includes four towers rising from eleven to sixteen storeys that will significantly overshadow the nature reserve, Busy Bees nursery and other residents who live near the site. The developer’s own documents show the harm of this more clearly that the developer’s conclusions admit.
The harm the daylight assessment doesn’t capture
When a developer assesses overshadowing from a development, it works to a long-standing national standard set by the Building Research Establishment (BRE). This stipulates that a development is acceptable if the adjacent public area receives two hours of direct sunlight on 50% of its area as measured on 21st March. The developer’s own report concedes that the harm is significant on homes in Atrium Point and some on Greenford Road calling it “moderate adverse”. But it only reaches this admission after lowering the bar.
The standard assesses the amount of daylight an area receives through a measure called the visible sky component (VSC). The VSC is the percentage of total visible sky available from an unobstructed window. This has a maximum value of 40%. 100% would be if you were lying down in a field looking up at the sky - all you can see is the sky. For a suburban area like the semi-detached houses and green open space of Grove Farm, the BRE standard daylight threshold is 27%. However, the developers claim the threshold of 18% for dense urban areas like city centres is acceptable. Consequently the harm to neighbouring properties is worse than the developer already admits. Additionally, this is measured only on 21st of March, ignoring the worst effects of winter when the sun is lower in the sky and daylight hours are reduced. Busy Bees - the nursery - is recognised as a “high sensitivity receptor” appears to have been forgotten in the assessment.
For Grove Farm nature reserve the measurement problem is even greater. The BRE test is not meant for measuring the impact on nature and biodiversity. The BRE guidance explains the test is meant for judging whether people have enough sun to enjoy a space. It is not for testing if there is ecological harm due to overshadowing. Furthermore, the whole Local Nature Reserve is being evaluated as a single space - averaging the effect across the whole site rather than recognising that areas right next to the towers such as Coston’s Brook and the woods surrounding it are going to be affected much more than the wood by Whitton Avenue at the opposite end of the site.
Why does the reduction in sunlight matter?
The case against these towers is already there in the developer's own paperwork which shows the negative effects of loss of light on biodiversity. Their ecologists accept that shading reduces the light plants need to grow, and their own woodland survey has already scored the plants beneath the trees as being in poor condition because there isn't enough light - a problem the new towers, standing right where the morning sun comes from, would only make worse. To assess the brook, they used a standard survey that treats sunlight as good for the life in the water and the plants along its banks, and yet their own shadow diagrams show that sunlight almost entirely taken away, with Coston's Brook sitting in shadow for nearly the whole of a midwinter day. Add the meadow, which is one of the most light-demanding habitats there is, and the picture is clear. The reduction in sunlight will harm the biodiversity of Grove Farm nature reserve.
What our investigation shows
1 November. Sunrise 7am to Sunset 4:30pm.
Beginning in November, Grove Farm, and in particular Coston’s Brook and the wildlife corridor beside it, stay under the development’s shadow for most of the day. The brook and its banks, which form a key nature corridor, never really get the full daylight they would otherwise receive.
That means colder, darker banks and less light reaching the habitats that badgers, bats and other species depend on along this corridor, at a time of year when daylight is already limited. As the sun climbs, the shadow also moves from the green space onto existing homes and streets – first Cavendish Avenue, then residents along the lane by David Lloyd, Atrium Point and the service road behind the Sudbury Hill shops.
21 December. Sunrise 8am to Sunset 4pm
Even in December, morning light still matters. As the days slowly lengthen after the winter solstice, low winter sun helps warm and dry the ground. It supports soil life and roots preparing for spring growth, and keeps Coston’s brook and its wildlife corridor as well as Busy Bee’s play areas from remaining cold and deeply shadowed all morning.
In the video, you can see that the tallest towers of the development cast long shadows over Grove Farm and Busy Bees nursery. Busy Bees stays in shade until around eleven in the morning, blocking direct sunlight into the nursery and its outdoor space during the main drop‑off and morning play, while the fields and woodland edge at Grove Farm also lose early daylight.
1 March section. Sunrise 7am to Sunset 5:30pm.
By early March, plants are starting to grow again and people are returning to the reserve and their gardens. Yet the towers still cast long morning shadows over key parts of Grove Farm and Busy Bees before the shade slides across nearby streets and homes as the day goes on.
This pattern shows that the harm is not confined to one spot or one group. The current design spreads loss of light between a protected nature reserve, a nursery and local residents throughout the day and across the seasons.
Help protect Grove Farm
By only focusing on the standard 21 March test the developer misses the wider effects on a site. What the simulations show is how, in winter and early spring, the towers keep Grove Farm, Busy Bees and nearby homes in much deeper shade than headline figures suggest.
If you are concerned by what you’ve seen, please help protect Grove Farm, Busy Bees and local residents by supporting our petition and writing to Ealing’s planning department and your councillors, asking them to insist on a redesign that protects the nature reserve, the nursery and neighbouring homes.