A MAN is fuming after his council ordered him to pull down his £5,000 fence – even though it’s identical to his neighbour’s.
Mark Roberts, 62, from Caerphilly in Wales, built the six-foot wall in 2020 to stop his front garden being littered with cans and syringes.
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But council inspectors told the ex-coal miner in October 2021 that he had to demolish the wall because someone had complained about its height.
One of his neighbours had put up a near-identical high wall, and none of the residents on the street objected to Mark’s wall when consulted by Caerphilly Council.
When Mark appealed, Caerphilly Council still said he had to reduce the wall to a metre in height.
Mark told WalesOnline: “It was a way to protect my home and it was for my privacy and security.
“We’ve had problems with things going missing from the garden, kids running in and out of the garden.
“We had syringes in the hedges, beer cans. It was ridiculous.
“The estate is rundown and yet I try to do something nice and they try to destroy it.”
Mark’s wall required council planning permission because it was a permanent structure over a metre in height – but the homeowner said he was unaware of the rules.
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He said: “Another wall has been built across the road – a beautiful wall but a similar height to mine. But because no one reported him he’s fine.
“If I reported all the people with high walls by here they’d go through the same thing, but I’d never do that, that’s not me.
“I asked all my neighbours and not one of them objected. They had letters from the council asking if they wanted to object, but none of them did.”
Mark paid £240 to make a retrospective application for planning permission, which the council refused.
The fuming resident appealed to the Welsh government’s planning department, which ruled that Mark could keep the wall – as long as he reduced it to a metre in height to fit planning rules.
Mark said: “We now have two months to alter it. I’ve got to reduce it to a metre in height, so I’ve nearly got to halve it.
“I feel like I’ve won but I also feel like I’ve lost a bit.”
Caerphilly Council has been contacted for comment.
It comes after a woman was left fuming after she claimed part of her fence went missing – before she allegedly found it burnt in her neighbour’s back garden.
The Sun also revealed that your neighbour could land you with a £50,000 fine under a little-known rule.
Know your rights
These are your rights when a building a wall on your property, according to the Crime Prevention Website:
You will require planning permission for any new fence, gate or wall over 2m in height.
This will normally include the addition of trellis panels on top of an existing fence if this takes the overall height to above 2m.
You do not require planning permission to grow a thorny plant along the top of your 2m fence (providing there are no support structures over 2 metres) unless there are covenants or restrictions. Check with your local planning authority.
If the new fence or wall borders or adjoins a public highway used for vehicles you may need planning permission if it is higher than 1 metre.
If you live in an area which has open planned front gardens there is likely to be a covenant restricting the erection of any fence or hedge to the front of the dwelling and you must therefore refer to the local planning authority before you carry out any work.
You do not normally need planning permission to plant a hedge, but you should check with the local planning authority first as you will have responsibilities to maintain the hedge so that it does not cause a nuisance to others.
Before you carry out any work on your boundaries do check with the local planning authority first to see if there are any restrictions or if you need planning permission.
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