Are you allowed to change the height of ground level in your back garden?

[PinkLillly]

Not linked to my other thread this is the neighbour at the end of my garden. They've recently built a new extension & they levelled the land first. Effectively, they've pushed all the soil to one side & built a retaining wall to hold it there. The whole thing is finished now & nicely done but it means that their small garden is now 4ft higher . They have a patio outside the extension & then they've had to put steps up to their new lawn. I now have the delightful view of almost their whole trampoline, the kids are higher than the fence. Are we all allowed to change our garden ground level like this? I wasn't aware this would happen when it went through planning.

Often planning document do give an indication of ground levels and a drawing of the plot showing landscaping. Have you looked at every document submitted?

As far as I am aware, this is rarely an issue and children on a trampoline are not really overlooking you. Plant some trees?

Because the land has lifted 4ft, the base of the trampoline is now more than halfway up my fence meaning the kids are totally on show above the fence every time they climb on the trampoline. It's not just heads bobbing up & down but whole bodies.

There's no reference to garden levels changing in the documents.

Sometimes, sometimes not. There was a recent appeal decision where changing land levels in a garden was considered ancillary to its use. It can be considered a separate engineering operation though. It’s a matter of fact and degree, effectively ‘planning judgement’ and the only people who can make that call are your Council or the Planning Inspectorate. You need to report it.

Start sunbathing in the nude...

This is an example of what is often required by a Planning Authority regarding building on sloping land etc. However, if someone decides to landscape a garden I think they can do it if it is nothing to do with the building. My neighbours used spoil from their excavations to level their sloping plot. It was a massive plot though. I’ll have a look and see what was submitted.

You should be able to increase the height of the fence if you wish. I think you can take it to 6ft as measured from the higher side. Of course that may have implications for your light.

2m for a fence without pp.

No, there were no specific plans for garden alterations but details for immediate building site were submitted: Levels and tree positions and landscaping at the house. The planning Officer didn’t make any comment of garden plans at all.

My neighbour did this, planning said it was unauthorised engineering works.

We managed to get the housing developer to sort it as they had messed up ground levels but if they hadn't then the planning authority would have enforced.

They were more than happy for us to have a higher fence though, enforcing costs money and they tend not to want to do it. Ours took a year to sort out and was really intrusive, we had no privacy at all.

So if their garden is now higher than yours, what is stopping the soil from spreading sideways into your garden? Is it all leaning up against a fence? Surely 4 feet of soil will damage the fence pretty quickly.

Kick ass they have built a retaining wall.
But yes this is a breach of planning as there's no permitted development rights for ground level changes, so as soon as it's significant enough to count as development (basically an intentional level change of significance) it would need permission. Bear in mind that decking or patiiosd are allowed up to 300mm from original ground level, building up much beyond that is likely to be a problem. Although the rules get convoluted on a sloppey garden.

interactive.planningportal.co.uk/detached-house/outside/decking/planning-permission

Could it be considered a “raised platform”

As far as i can remember one is allowed to raise the ground level by 30 cm (from original ground) with out requiring any planing permission. Anything higher would normally require planing permission but to challenge it, you need to keep a few things in mind.

1. How to prove where ‘exactly’ the original ground level was? (This may require a costly surveyor, which councils usually avoid unless its a major issue)
2. Councils are generally not interested in enforcing penalties on these kind of breaches (ime at least).

I think one solution for you can be to plant some tall evergreen hedging on the boundary. E.g Leylandi Cypress or Laurel.

No!!! Do not plant eithrer of those hedges. They should both be banned from gardens. They will ruin your own garden and be a nightmare. Build your own raised bed and plant suitable trees in that. A beech hedge keeps its leaves all year round. Far more environmentaly friendly and birds will even nest in it.

Can your neighbours not be persuadaed to put a fence on top of the retaining wall? Then you are effectively back to not seeing them.

Care to elaborate whats wrong with those hedges? And birds nest in all types of hedges not just beech. If you dont want height, Laurel is a good choice.

As for beech, i once tried it but it was very slow growing compared to the Laurels. Not sure many people will have patience for it to grow to a reasonable height.