Can a neighbour legally raise the height of their garden ground substantially?

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Asking for a friend. Both gardens are small. The neighbour had a gentle slope uphill from his house to the back fence. But he has levelled approx 16ft of ground near the house for an extension and piled this removed soil at the end of his garden, held in place by a new brick retaining wall (with steps up to it). The result is that where previously, you wouldn't see each other over the 6ft fence, now the neighbours look chest & head over the fence! My friend is hating the loss of privacy and being overlooked. There is no soil touching the fence as the new retaining wall runs alongside it. The neighbour's extension has full planning permission. There's nothing that can be done now as the building work is almost finished. I know there're rules around decking height, but it appears it doesn't matter if you move soil around. Anyone else had experience of something like this?

If nothing can be done she should start growing quick growing bamboo in troughs alongside the fence as privacy screen.

Any "engineering works" in the garden require planning permission. If it's a large amount of soil being moved that probably counts. If I were your friend I'd ring the council.

Definitely DO NOT do this or it will cost a fortune in legal fees and earthworks down the line when it escapes its trough and moves into the ground. And yes, that's also the "clumping" varieties.

Could the neighbour not put a 6 foot fence on his raised bit?

Hi OP. Firstly you'd need to know if this raised area formed part of the planning permission. Secondly, if it does not form part of the planning permission, you'll need to decipher if it falls within the realms of permitted development.

Within the GPDO (General Permitted Development Order) alterations to a dwelling house are permitted with some restrictions, one of which being:

"Development is not permitted if:

(K)(I) it would consist of or include the construction or provision of a verandah, balcony or raised platform"

This is clarified as:

"Raised in relation to a platform means a platform with a height greater than 0.3 meters".

So, if the platform isn't within the planning permission, and is raised above 0.3 meters it is IMO (without seeing it) a breach of planning.

If the house is in an area with an article 4 order in place (most councils do this in conservation areas) then the homeowner won't benefit from permitted development at all.

If you think it is a breach of planning permission, have your friend take photos of the raised area and contact the planning enforcement team for her local authority and explain her privacy concerns. It might not be a priority for them and it might take them a while to act but they'll have 4 years to serve an enforcement notice on the landowner requiring him to remove the raised area.

I doubt the neighbour will shell out for a higher fence since it's not his privacy that's compromised. I think I'd just get bamboo screening or trellis and tall plants in pots to give that bit of additional height

It sounds as though a significant amount of soil has been moved if it now needs a retaining wall to hold it.
If this work was not included within the PP for the extension, then I think it could fall under the definition of engineering works which are not covered under residential permitted development rights. As such it would require PP.
Your friend needs to contact the planning enforcement team at her local council who should come and investigate. Any before/after photos would be useful.

Oh! I was just about to do this! Do you think pampas grass instead?

In a previous property we had fast growing bamboo in large and ling troughs for over ten years and the bamboo never escaped.

Just grow something along the fence line to screen it off.

Sorry what kind of troughs?

Lucky you, its a thug on the scale of knotweed.

Backing away from the bamboo purchase now...... 😂

@Neveralonewithaclone pampas grass is also a massive thug and has wickedly sharp knife edges and very hard to manage.

Suggest you read up on garden forums about them both!

For screening, pleached trees or shrubs are a better option.

The 6’ maximum fence height doesn’t have to be measured from her side.

We’ve put bamboo in to give some privacy from neighbours. It’s in a double lined solid plastic container with a slate slab underneath. I tilt the pot forwards every few weeks to check for any growth coming out of the drainage holes and so far so good.

My neighbour put in olive trees and they've grown quickly and provide nice coverage and also unlike bamboo the "bushy part" is higher up so less intrusive into your garden as it were

This reflects my understanding. We were reported by a neighbour for carrying out engineering works when we had a large amount of soil delivered. It was mainly to fill in a large old inground trampoline pit and to level a bit of an uneven area. The planning inspector was happy that what we did was gardening rather than engineering works and left us to it.

(I suspect that the report was a malicious one from a neighbour who accused me of stealing a parcel. We have about 3 acres of land and the part where the soil was used was the furthest from any neighbours and the area is not even visible from any neighbouring property. So very different to a suburban garden situation where increased height could be used to overlook. Planning might be interested (if it wasn't covered by the original permission).)

They have not paid for soil removal costs. They have dumped it in the garden. Would it have needed to go through the house to a skip? A retaining wall is a more expensive solution though. So is this adequate in engineering terms? The retaining wall needs building regs approval so I’d ask about that too.

Definitely ask about PP. My neighbours, although they are 200 yds away, dumped their dug out soil in a field. Shaped a slope and no pp needed. Doesn’t look great but it will be a grassy bank and they don’t overlook anyone. A retaining wall in a residential setting is different, and, by definition, is engineering. Not unusual to have raised gardens though. Just expensive to do properly and better to get soil taken away.

Plant a shrub or beech hedge. Bamboo isn’t native and is a thug. Ditto laurel. Ditto leylandii.

I think someone has been watching to much “ Day of the triffids “ 🌾🌵🪴🌴

@Diyextension not at all, I just care about my neighbour and prefer to plant native.

Also, bamboo IS a thug and if you read up you will find many horror stories.

I once lived in a garden where someone had planted bamboo in an open central border.

It came up everywhere - constantly being mowed as part of the grass - and was genuinely amazing how far from the original plant the shoots came up - 20m or more.

Here for the bamboo sub thread. Got rid of ours (previous owner planted) 3 years ago - using diggers, and chemical / physical weed suppressants. It's still with us, cheerily growing up through my new patio and saying hello in the lawn and other random places.

Take care, pampas grass was (is?) apparently an indicator for something... 😳