Am I a CF if I plant trees in my garden?

[BigBlueBubble]

Hallo lovely people, can you please tell me if I’m being a CF?

My house is on a hill and NDN is further up the hill. My living room with big French windows opens into my garden. I have a 6ft fence which prevents NDN seeing into my living room if they’re in the garden. If they’re in the house the slope of the hill means they can look out of their window and just about see over the fence but that’s never been a massive problem.

However .. NDN has recently installed a raised deck so when they climb on it their heads pop above the fence and they peer over. And now they’ve put up a massive ugly orange gazebo tent right next to the fence and the peak is so high, because of the slope it feels like it’s towering over my house.

I can’t make the fence taller, it’s already the permitted legal maximum of 2m. But I’ve been advised that I can plant a row of tall trees and NDN can’t do anything about it because as long as it’s not evergreen there’s no legal restriction on the height. It will have leaves in the summer which solves my problem because NDN aren’t sitting out on their deck or putting up their gazebo tent in the winter.

My question is, am I a CF if I plant trees along my boundary to give me some privacy? NDN probably won’t be happy because I’m on the east and they’re on the west so the trees will cast a shadow over their deck and part of their garden. But they’ve already invaded my privacy with their deck and gazebo otherwise I wouldn’t be considering this as a solution.

Tree planting is well within your rights given the circumstances

Be very careful with bamboo as it spreads! Previous owner of our house planted one or two in a bed and I'm constantly pulling up shoots to a range of about three metres.

Maple grows fast, OP. And plum and cherry get tall quickly as long as you don’t buy them on dwarf rootstock. There are also trellises on which you can train roses, or wisteria, or jostaberries. Or grapes, if you are in the south. All for relatively low cost if you can be patient. (In the meantime there is nasty plastic fake hedge stuff that you could drape on a trellis...)

Trellis is a good suggestion but it counts as a fence and would be above the max height, so NDN could report to the council and have it removed.

The deck is beside the house — they’ve installed a sex pond with a small surrounding deck and access steps. No planning permission but I don’t think they need it? The gazebo is right next to the fence.

my neighbours put a trellis of wire along the top of their fence, a temporary structure so not needing planning permission.
Then then planted fast growing climbers / bramble / ivy along the base of the fence.
Grew into a screen within a year.
cheap and quick and easy

Sex pond 😂

You'll need to redo that diagram OP, we need to see the sex pond!

What's a sex pond?

Plant away!

Fetid outdoor bacteria bath crosses a line.
Fuck it, escalate this.
10' leylandii, the itchy ones, plus a few massive chestnut trees to drop bits.

Plan some outdoor activities that are loud. Don't let them establish any more land grabs.

A SEX POND ??!!!!!

What's a sex pond?
A hot tub. But we know what they do in it.

at sex pond. I think they need planning if the deck is over 30cms high. Planning here are quite hot on it and nearly rejected our extension due to the Architect having drawn decking in round the side (I didn’t want it) as said it would create too much overlooking.

Id opt for beach pleached if you can afford it as the dead leaves stay on and give you privacy for longer
The alternative is a pergola. (which we're doing thanks to twat face next door parking a huge horse box next to our 2 metre fence) You could have it raised higher than 2 metres your side and have slanty bits going down to join the top of the fence, thus giving you extra height and bypassing the 2 metre rule. You could grow anything you like up it then

The Sex pond is one hell of a drip feed!!!!

A sex pond MUST be a euphemism for a hot tub. Please tell me it is!

I like the Pergola idea
But would be difficult to use with a "sex pond" so close......

BigBlueBubble crosspost. Sniggering at the sex pond/hot tub thing.

Bamboo is a bugger for spreading. It makes its way through pavements near where I live. However, to get round the no evergreen thing, I would plant beech trees as they keep their brown leaves over winter and only lose them when new ones shoot through in Spring. Definitely buy the highest you can afford.

Sex pond! Definitely check with council about planning permission for the decking height. Sounds like they’ve possibly breached it.

The Sex pond is one hell of a drip feed!!!!

Sorry

To be fair, the sex pond isn’t really an issue as it’s below fence level. The problem is the raised deck beside it where they stand to get dried. If they were just cocking a leg over the side of the tub to get in and out we wouldn’t see them.

Go for trellis and climbers. Theyll probably be grateful and not object. Do they really want to look at you?

If you can afford it, pleached beech would look beautiful over winter too and doesn't drop its leaves till the new leaf buds emerge in the spring.

I think the deck and steps are part of the hot tub though iyswim? They haven’t built a deck, it’s attached to the hot tub.

Bamboo really rattles and pops when there's a lot of it. If your area is relatively quiet otherwise and you're planting it close to your/their bedrooms I'd be careful, it can make a surprising amount of noise on a windy night!