New Rear Fence Height 2 inches above Limit

Wyatt1980

Hi, I've just received correspondence from the council regarding a complaint made regarding a new rear fence we had erected. The enforcement officer is coming around to check. I made a measurement myself and the fence is 6ft 8 inches so just 2 inches above the limit where planning permission would not be needed.
Has anyone had experience of this and could recommend how to approach the situation. My naive hope is that I could get away with it as it's only 2 inches, but the realist in me is telling me they will enforce the rules since it is technically a breach.

Thanks.

Section62

Wyatt1980 said:

Hi, I've just received correspondence from the council regarding a complaint made regarding a new rear fence we had erected. The enforcement officer is coming around to check. I made a measurement myself and the fence is 6ft 8 inches so just 2 inches above the limit where planning permission would not be needed.
Has anyone had experience of this and could recommend how to approach the situation. My naive hope is that I could get away with it as it's only 2 inches, but the realist in me is telling me they will enforce the rules since it is technically a breach.

Thanks.

Are you sure you met all the other requirements for the fence to be permitted development (which btw is a form of planning permission)?  Does the property have full permitted development rights, and are there any listed buildings close by?

What is on the other side of the rear fence?

Wyatt1980

Hi, yes it has full permitted development rights. Not near any listed buildings. Behind the fence is actually a second fence belonging to the houses behind mine - they were built at a later time and had their own fence installed so I haven't touched this. Only replaced my previous fence.

stuart45

It used to be 6ft 6inches, but now it's 2 metres, so you're only 32mm over which is about 1 1\4 inches over.

Doozergirl

stuart45 said:

It used to be 6ft 6inches, but now it's 2 metres, so you're only 32mm over which is about 1 1\4 inches over.

Add 33mm of soil/hardcore against the fence then. 😊

Eldi_Dos

Create a flower bed in front of new fence and add a few bags of topsoil and some plants.

ThisIsWeird

Wyatt1980 said:

 Behind the fence is actually a second fence belonging to the houses behind mine - they were built at a later time and had their own fence installed so I haven't touched this. Only replaced my previous fence.

How tall is this other fence? How tall was your previous fence?
And who do you reckon made the complaint?

Section62

Eldi_Dos said:

Create a flower bed in front of new fence and add a few bags of topsoil and some plants.

The height of the fence should be measured against the 'natural' ground level.  The planning enforcement officer should ignore any artificial raising of the ground level... the more obvious it appears the ground level has been raised, the less the officer can ignore the difference from the 'natural' level.

I'm a bit surprised planning enforcement are going to visit if there isn't a fundamental issue like an Article 4 Direction.  I'd be inclined to do nothing before the site visit and see what they have to say.  Trying to fool them may be counterproductive.

Wyatt1980

Hi all, thanks for the comments. I'm waiting for the appointment with the planning enforcement officer and hopefully they are reasonable in their assessment.. I'm fairly certain it's the home owner behind my house who has complained, but they'll not see any big difference even if my fence was 2 inches lower - guess some people have nothing better to do. The new fence is taller than the old one by ~12 inches.

TELLIT01

Is their ground level lower than yours?  If so they will have measured from their side and it will be more than the permitted height, but not from your side.  All you can really do is wait for the officer to attend and see what the perceived problem is, if any.

ThisIsWeird

Wyatt1980 said:

I'm fairly certain it's the home owner behind my house who has complained, but they'll not see any big difference even if my fence was 2 inches lower - guess some people have nothing better to do. The new fence is taller than the old one by ~12 inches.

What would be that homeowner's reasoning, do you think? This fence is a foot taller - how does that compare with theirs? And do they realise just how high some laurels could grow...