planning permission

jackyalex · 04-10-2006, 10:23

I have been told by my council that i have to take down my 5ft fence because i dont have planning permission,due to my back garden(my only garden)boundary wall being next to a public footpath/road,so i phoned up the council explaning that i am a h/a tenant and the fence that i have put up is behind the wall inside my garden ,the council has told me i have 28 days to take it down,and that the max height that i can have the boundary wall/fence is 1m,well my garden is very small and i have a german shepard dog so a 1m wall/fence isnt high enough,my h/a has told me that they wont have anything to do with it but have said that i can apply myself at the cost of £135 to me,now i also have to pay for someone to come up with some drawings for me at more expence,its just a 5ft high panel fence by 20ft long it doesnt cause no-one any problems,so why are the council and h/a making me pay so much money,for a fence for my tiny back garden that just happens to be next to a road and theres only 1 road in my village

WillowTheWhisp · 04-10-2006, 10:32

Because those are the rules. Just because it's on your land, on your side of the boundary wall doesn't mean you can do what you please as many people have found out to their dismay when they try to do a few home improvements without checking out planning permission first.

The h/a probably don't want to pay because it's for your convenience not theirs.

jackyalex · 04-10-2006, 10:47

but at the end of the day it is there property and when i move out its there house value that goes up not mine

WillowTheWhisp · 04-10-2006, 10:49

They may not see it as an asset, particularly if there are other similar houses and it no longer matches them.

jackyalex · 04-10-2006, 10:53

will i actually own the rights to the planning even when i move out?

WillowTheWhisp · 04-10-2006, 11:09

The planning permission relates to the property so I'm not sure what you mean by owning the rights it.

If you owned a house and wanted to sell it the fact that it has planning permisson for something or other (such as a garage) could be useful to the new owners if they want to do the same thing. If most people wouldn't want whatever it is though then the planning pemission wouldn't mean a thing to them.

You couldn't charge extra for the plannng permisson as an addition though or refuse to pass it on to them if they wouldn't pay the extra.

entwisi · 04-10-2006, 11:17

One thing you can do is to plant bushes of any height you like, 12 foot laylandii are perfectly legal, a 4ft fence isn't.

I know how you feel as i went through similar thing myself. We wanted to put a fence up to make a part of our back garden private and secure for Siobhan to play in. The fence would only be 4'6 high but as our garden is raised by 18" it would make it 6 foot from the pavement. In the end I did get permission for a fence but it had to be 2 metres back from the pavement. The daft bit is that they said I could have a 6' fence there so now its over 7 foot high from the pavement! The 2 meter gap I filled with chippings which one of the neighbours is complaining about as the odd kid that walks past our house tend to pick a few up and chuck them at his window

I swear that our planning dept are thick as two short ones. Thsi was the second incident I had with them

One question though, have you thought of asking the RSPCA to come and inspect your garden? IIRC they will advise if it isn't secure enough for your dog so you could actually get a report from them saying that you NEED that fence to comply with the legal aspect of owning your dog.

WillowTheWhisp · 04-10-2006, 11:29

That's assuming th h/a is OK about you having the dog.

Planning permission is a minefield. What about when whatshername tried to restore her Tudor property back to its orginal appearance but it was listed and so she couldn't remove the incongruous Victorin porch? Or at least she did and was told to put it back! Mad. Absolutely barking mad.

steve · 04-10-2006, 11:47

Is it not service land 1m in from the footpath? If it is you cant even plant a tree on it.

Madhatter · 04-10-2006, 11:54

Technically if theres already a wall, the wall is the boundry and therefore your fence is an internal fence.
For example if you raised the level of the wall to 6ft 6inch or 2 metres it wouldn't be the fence they'd say you had to take down is it. now logically you can't have two boundry fences. Same with entwisi, if you now put up a one metre high fence and moved your fence one metrw from the boundary and made a path between, how can that be a boundary fence.
You need to make sure of course because they no doubt have already made their minds up.
Someone must have also complained. some people need to get a life.
I think you'll end up taking it down or you'll get fined and charged for them taking it down.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=boundary

Madhatter · 04-10-2006, 11:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve

Is it not service land 1m in from the footpath? If it is you cant even plant a tree on it.

No it's nothing to do with that, this land is already walled and the 1 metre boundry wall limit applies to all property, regardless of property specific planning clauses.
Some properties can't even have a hedge or tree.

jackyalex · 04-10-2006, 12:26

when i moved in last oct the h/a knew i had a gs dog,there was a 8ft fence or what was left of it already behind the boundary wall we then used the fence posts that were already concreted in to put our fence panels up against,there is actually as gap between the panel fence and the boundary wall but it is small,the boundary wall isnt even 1m high its just over 1ft high,its just annoying that its so much to go through for a fence,ive never heard of needing plan perm for a fence before,i asked if i could put up some hedges and have the fence as a partition but the council said i cant do that either

entwisi · 04-10-2006, 12:42

If the original fence was there for more than 7 years it becomes perfectly legal for you to replace it with your new panels. you need to play the 'prove it wasn't' approach.

jackyalex · 04-10-2006, 12:58

i will have to ask the neighbours how long the fence had been there for,i never knew that thanks

Madhatter · 04-10-2006, 13:07

they can't stop you putting that fence anywhere else other than on the boundary unless you are in a conservation are, and as entwisi has pointed out a hedge requires no permission. the info is all on the net.
I thought it was 5 yrs to get automatic planning permission entwisi.
i'm sure the neighbours will say its been there for as long as required jackyalex, just remember you say it was, they need to be able to prove it wasn't if you've got neighbours who say it was.