Boundary wall. Would you accept this?

[Todayissunny]

This is not in the uk.
Our neighbours have put in for planning permission to build a boundary wall running the length of the main part of our garden. It will be 180cm high black slate slabs, the whole length. It gets very hot here in summer (but very cold in winter) and it will be exposed to the sun all day.
Is it going to make us feel closed in? Make our garden feel smaller?
Will it be too hot to plant against it? Will we get heat radiating off it?
The garden is about 6m wide. Our dining room/ kitchen looks out onto it.
Would you accept it?

No. It’s too high with the bank. Can you object on light grounds?

@mamelon - that height is from the ground on their side. We are higher up than them.

Another issue for us is that we have a wonderful view of the mountain. the wall at the front end will block a lot of our view from out terrace. Teh view is the reason we bought the house (paid a premium for house with view as well)

Ah, sorry, my mistake. I still wouldn’t like it, especially if it meant losing an amazing view

Sorry, its confusing. They build the base of their house 1.5 lower than ours. The bank is from their ground level up to ours. Their main garden is at right angle to where they want to put
the wall.

The slate isn't going to make your garden hotter, although when seated you may feel less breeze. It will make it possible to landscape your garden in an amazing way when you have such an expensive boundary.

The materials are personal taste, I quite like it.

The height and how it affects your view is the only real issue IMO. I am not sure what you mean when you say it will be on a bank - they may not be allowed that.

That's quite an odd way to use slate as a boundary material isn't it?! Very different to the ones I imagined and as in my image upthread.

I'd just put my own fencing or wall on my side to disguise it tbh.

I really don't think heat is going to be an issue though, this is an aesthetic problem more than anything.

. Tall narrow slabs of pale granite are very popular here but I've never seen big slabs of slate before either.
I'm wondering from your comments if it could look nice.... I also thought about thecpossobility of training something pretty along wires but wasn't sure about the heat. It could also look nice if it's broken up by plants rather than one long wall. I also think that the dark colour could make our garden look very small.

I've asked here for opinions because I don't know if I'm seeing things clearly because we made a compromise on something we have done in our garden and to thank us they have put a big tree up blocking part of the view and the wall would block my favourite bit. None of which they have bothered to discuss with us.

Again, it's what's allowable and protected where you are. I believe blocking a view is not a valid a reason to object in England. But if they have built up their boundary above the rest of their garden and then put a wall on top, I think that would be grounds as it is a 2m max allowed without planning permission.
Research the grounds on which you are allowed to object then do so. It doesn't sound like they have helped ease your concerns in any way, so have no qualms about making things difficult for them now.

We see this all the time where we are.. new builds .. limited recourse to objection.. old houses losing their charm due to the proximity of buildings not in keeping with their surroundings.. are you in France?

If the 1.5m back plus 1.6m wall is not against regulations, you might struggle!!

You could embrace the wall and plan to make it your feature... (you might need permission to attach things to it..)

Some ideas on here..
www.countryliving.com/gardening/garden-ideas/advice/g1456/fast-growing-vines/

Also grape vines, pear, peach, figs all look great trained along a wall.

If your house is the shaded one and they are building the striped one it looks like the house will block the view anyway, doesn’t it?

That could look absolutely awesome. Walls are so expensive it could add a lot of value to your property

Make sure you’re not objecting for the fun of it.

Even if you can’t attach anything to the wall directly a fan or espalier trained fruit tree would break it up nicely

[quote Todayissunny]@mamelon - that height is from the ground on their side. We are higher up than them.

Another issue for us is that we have a wonderful view of the mountain. the wall at the front end will block a lot of our view from out terrace. Teh view is the reason we bought the house (paid a premium for house with view as well)[/quote]
You don't buy views and if you paid a premium, that was your choice.

I don't really understand how you can really object as if this is within the ranges permitted based on their ground level, then surely you need to accept this is their rate as land owner.

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do though. A great big solid black wall that blocks your neighbour’s stunning view is a bit of an inconsiderate thing to do - the nicer thing to do is look at alternative options that mean your neighbours aren’t royally pissed off. Unless your neighbours are complete a-holes obviously.

Lots of green planted against that will be stunning. It would really show off architectural plants like aliums.

Interesting you say about the heat, we have a light painted grey wall that’s a neighbours at the side of our house. It’s really difficult to plant against, it shadows the garden in winter so that bit is a swap and roasts the plants in the summer all day and well into the night with the heat coming off it.

However the comments above indicate it shouldn’t be a problem.

I think I would focus on limiting it's height. 180cm, if already 150cm from their ground level is unnecessary. It could be much shorter - 120cm for example (4ft). If I have understood correctly, this could be a good compromise for both of you? The material is very smart, and if height was adjusted it might preserve your view to an extent, provide your neighbours with the boundary they want while keeping their neighbours on board (you), and reducing the cost to them of the wall fairly significantly.

Would that work at all?

Thank for all your input.
We believe that we have grounds to object, because the wall will be too high from their side (these things are never certain though). And for us it is a question of whether the wall is something that we could accept or not. Some of you say it would be lovely.....
I can see some benefits of the wall, but 19m of nearly black might not be easy to decorate. I spoke briefly to a gardener today and he thinks plant will struggle growing along it.
We are prepared to discuss a compromise but up until now they haven't shown any willingness to.

@Todayissunny Best of luck x Perhaps you can also request to whitewash it on your side?.
Let us know how you get on

Thanks @DoubleTweenQueen

@Todayissunny - good luck, I hope you can reach a compromise

I'd be a bit wary of those vertical slabs falling one day too. Will be be very deeply grounded?

It looks easily able to kill anyone if it did topple.

Bloody hell, are they building a prison yard?

fix wires into the wall
OP can’t do this, it’s not her wall. I’d put a trellis up, losing a few inches of my own garden but that way you can grow as much as you want up it. Or I might do some industrial drilling and hope the wall cracks