Fence regulations/neighbour complaint

[StaceyF90]

Please excuse my awful drawing! We want to move our fence from the side of our house (red bar) to the front (dashed red bar)

The hedge is over 2m so fence (1.8m) won't be seen from the road.

Our neighbours (who complain about anything and everything) are saying we can't move it as we cant have a fence over 1m meeting the road. We have an end detached house so have a wrap around garden, fences current position meets the road but technically it is at the side of the house not the front. The new position does not meet the road as there is a hedge in the way.

I've phoned and emailed the council and they either don't respond or tell me to check the website. Anyone have experience with this? Should we just move it?

Technically your neighbour is correct.

It makes no difference whether the fence is at the side or the front.

Any fence adjacent to the highway required planning permission if it exceeds 1m in height (3'3"). This is generally overcome by the last panel being at 1m with the remaining fence increased to 1.8m/2m. Any fence in any location exceeding 2m requires PP.

Obviously there is nothing to stop you applying for PP, and in your situation with the high hedge in place, I wouldn't have thought there would be any reason to refuse PP on either highway safety (visibility from your drive) or visual impact as it is screened by the hedge.

If you go ahead, you risk the neighbour reporting it to the Council, and then they would have to look into it. In all likelihood, they would simply ask that you submit an application in order to rectify the situation. But there is always the possibility that PP could be refused.