Bought house. Council asking for fence to be taken down

jimbog

Seems strange. Looking at Streetview, the previous owners had since at least before 2009 trees on the perimeter that, even though cropped, were in excess of 2m - is that fact worth adding to your defence?

FreeBear

sevenhills said:

jojothefirst said

This would mean no privacy or security for our 3 kids and 2 dogs that use the garden. 

Plant a hedge and grow it to 6ft?
You should be able to buy young plants that are already 2/3 foot.

If this is the house that turns up when searching for the two roads in question, it had a ~2m confer hedge since before 2009 according to Google streetview. Only recently was the hedge grubbed out, presumably when the place was refurbished in 2021.

user1977

diystarter7 said:

Silly question as its been a few years since I moved but why did we and many others pay for 'indemnity insurance' and how does that work

It's to protect against (generally) historic works which lack consent. And which nobody has already kicked up a fuss about. Not going to help the OP unless they've forgotten that they did actually get indemnity insurance which covers this (which doesn't sound likely).

diystarter7

You can buy 2m connifers.
Claim against the indemnity insurance.

Woolsery

sevenhills said:

jojothefirst said

This would mean no privacy or security for our 3 kids and 2 dogs that use the garden. 

You should be able to buy young plants that are already 2/3 foot.

And to do it cheaply, if that's your choice, buy  bare root on-line in November.

jojothefirst

jimbog said:

Seems strange. Looking at Streetview, the previous owners had since at least before 2009 trees on the perimeter that, even though cropped, were in excess of 2m - is that fact worth adding to your defence?

Yea before the fence there were 3m+ tall conifers which had been hacked back and looked dreadful..... You can see them on desktop version of streetview as you can go years back.

They made the view at the junction far more restricting than the fence. I printed these off and showed the council when the visited on may 20th but even though he agreed with what i just said, it doesnt matter! 

diystarter7

where is the link to the "street views"?

Section62

jimbog said:

Seems strange. Looking at Streetview, the previous owners had since at least before 2009 trees on the perimeter that, even though cropped, were in excess of 2m - is that fact worth adding to your defence?

It could negate the  highways objection if one were made in response to an application (but it depends on the accident history at this junction).

But a fence is not a hedge, so as a defence it won't carry much weight from the streetscene impact point of view.

Placitasgirl

Search for "Gladstone Street Woodward Avenue, Cross Keys" in Google Maps. Satellite view shows the property with the conifer hedging in place, and an image dated 2021 shows the property with scaffolding erected and a simple (18 inch?) post and wire fence around the whole of the outside of the property. 

FreeBear

jojothefirst said: [the conifers] made the view at the junction far more restricting than the fence. I printed these off and showed the council when the visited on may 20th but even though he agreed with what i just said, it doesnt matter! 

I'm afraid I would have to agree the Highways Dept and the council - A 2m fence would restrict the view at that junction, and losing the conifer hedge has improved things considerably.

Now that the property is on the council's radar, planting another hedge and allowing it to grow could store up problems for the future. So follow their recommendations and put some 1m fence panels in.