Garden/Boundary Fence

[nightvision]

I have had a private gardening expert/maintenance man (an individual working for himself) round my property recently to assess my knackered fence (6ft high) and to give me a quote for a complete replacement. My property is an end-of-terrace house situated on a main road and with one side of the fence running down a sloping side road adjacent to the main road. The fence on the other side of the house is of course, shared with my immediate next-door neighbour. The back of the house is a narrow alleyway which is actually locked at the entrance (from my side road end) and is not accessible by the general public.

My immediate next door neighbour had recently replaced their fence (the reverse ‘L’ shape) with a higher fence (at least 7ft) but left the shared fence on my side untouched. I’ve told the chap who came round last week that I want a 7ft fence all round because the present 6ft is much too low (people walking down the side road can almost look into my garden; anyone driving a van or a higher vehicle can most certainly do that).

As there was no response from the chap who came round for more than a week now, my DP rang him last night for an update just to be told that we cannot erect a 7ft fence as the council would not approve of that. Is this true?

Is there a ‘maximum height’ for a garden/boundary fence? Has anyone done similar before and if so, how much are we looking at to replace the entire fence?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Anything solid over 6ft needs planning permission. I've got a 6ft fence with a ft of trellis on the top.

this is right. there is a maximum height which you can go without planning permission. check on your local councils website or just give them a quick ring confirm. your local building yard will be able to give you prices in order to out how much for materials then add about £15 a post for labour costs and this should give you an idea of costs.

Yes, there are rules about the maximum height of a wall or fence that runs alongside a road, or pavement/footway alongside a road.

You also need to check with your local council about what type of fence you can replace the current one with. Some councils will expect a PP application if you are changing the appearance of the fence.

I am talking from painful experience as we have had to get full PP to change our crumbling brick wall to a fence. This included a CIL form!

Walls or fences can be 2m high, or 1m high adjacent to a public highway. More than that needs planning permission.
planning portal here

Thanks all for your input. The trellis on top of the fence is a great idea, Methe. Actually my fence builder called round again this evening and gave me an update. He also suggested a two-foot trellis on top of the fence as a possible solution. I guess this will go a long way to stopping the kids from the school at the bottom of my side road from throwing their rubbish over my fence.

Your quote for £15 a post labour costs, lambrini, seems about right. I was quoted £140 per day for two men working i.e. £70 each, and will take about 3 days, therefore £420. This seems very reasonable to me here in London. My garage charged me more than that for a day’s work changing my car’s timing chain. Of course, I will have to buy the materials myself (from Lawsons) on top of this.

Arya, I’m just replacing the flimsy old feather edge fence which is falling apart, with a better and stronger but similar fence. I just want it to be a foot taller from the present 6ft for reasons mentioned earlier. Thanks Seeline for the interesting link.