Want to build tall fence on driveway, am I allowed?

[Pegs11]

Hi, I want to replace the 1m high fence between my and my neighbour’s front driveways with a 2m high one. I think this is legal, as the fence does not adjoin a public road or footpath... but I have heard that sometimes it can cause boundary disputes?

I need to get this right, because I don’t want to build a fence and then have to tear it down...

In case it helps, next door is a council-owned property and our neighbours are social housing tenants. We do not talk to our neighbours as we fell out (badly) a couple of years ago. We want to build the fence taller to block them (and their antisocial behaviour) out as much as we can!

Who does the 1m fence belong to?

Check with your local authority.

Check with planning - general rule is 1m without planning permission. You may just want to block them out, but if the effect on them is to make their garden feel like a prison yard then you're unlikely to get permission.

Where it adjoins the pavement, it will need to be a maximum of 1m to avoid the need for planning permission. Usually if the last panel is 1m, the rest can be 2m, but you will need to check with your council planning department to make sure.

Why would it cause a boundary dispute? Take photos now or video to show the fence in situ. What is the fence situation now? Is it wooden posts or concrete posts?

The usual 1m height thing is the splay which is being able to pull off a drive in a car and the 1m aids visibility. I would probably leave that last panel as a 1m if you can but you should be able to increase it up.

I will link a video of a woman extending the height of concrete posts with wooden posts as I think it helps to see what it could potentially look like. My sister did this but they painted the fence panels and new wooden posts black then got black masonry paint to paint the concrete posts to blend it all in.

Check deeds as well as local planning rules

Hi, very sorry for the delay replying. I am waiting to hear back from the council about this… fingers crossed.