can my neighbour legally put up a fence

[nicespam]

on a piece of ground in front of his house, now owned by him, as he doesn't want 'undesireables' walking past lowering the tone!

he blames people walking past for lowering the value of his house.

he has started to erect the fence too.

Call the council and check? Depends on the height I think

Usually you can put up a fence of no more than six feet in height - but many newer estates with "open plan" gardens will have restrictions on this, placed by the developer/builder.

If he owns the land and there are no enforceable covenants to the contrary then yes he can. Council will only get involved if it is over the height for pp or is on their land.

it isn't on his land, it's on a sort of field opposite. really hard to explain!

he has basically send everyone a letter asking us to help pay for a gate to stop people wandering through this field to get to a cut through. the public have been doing this for years and years.

he suddenly wants to stop them as he belives it's lowering the price of his house.

sorry can see my op was confusing, meant not owned not now.

If he doesn't own it and no-one complains for 12 years, it becomes his. I think that is unlikely, given what you've described.

The council, once informed would probably write to him, tell him to take it down, and if not, charge him for doing so.

can a piece of land (owned by a management company) that has been used as a public right of way for at least 50 years suddenly be closed off with fencing?

it's such a cheek. basically he seems to believe the public access is putting off buyers. so it seems he wants to gate everyone in, then move. it's the way he has described the public as 'undesirables' too which has riled me.

i shall get onto the council pronto for some advice. i feel like going round his house and questioning him further but would probably just lose my temper.