David and Denise Hopwood installed a 25-metre-long grey composite fence for privacy after their hedge became too difficult to maintain, but lost their planning appeal after a neighbour complained
A pensioner couple are confronting demands to demolish a £4,500 seven-foot barrier they put up for ‘privacy and security’ following the rejection of their council appeal. David and Denise Hopwood, from Bolton, erected the 25-metre-long grey composite fencing around their property in pursuit of privacy and low maintenance.
It replaced a deteriorating nine-foot-high hedge that had grown increasingly difficult and costly to maintain due to their advancing age and health problems. However, a neighbour filed a complaint with the council regarding its height, forcing David, 67, and Denise, 66, to seek retrospective planning permission.
Last year, the couple were told permission had been refused on the basis it conflicted with the ‘character and appearance of the surrounding area’, reports the Manchester Evening News. The pensioners hit back, highlighting that the hedge had cost them £800 each year to maintain and that the fencing – complete with a 1ft trellis and gravel boards – had ‘transformed’ their lives.
The pair contested the ruling at the time but recently, after a site visit last month, the council maintained its position, leaving them facing the prospect of removing the barrier. An official document outlined five reasons for dismissing their appeal, stating that its position, materials, colour and dimensions ‘appears a discordant and strident feature in the street scene’.
David explained: “We both have arthritis and the hedge was out of control, we weren’t able to look after it. We put it up for privacy and security, as well as it is ideal for maintenance purposes.
“I feel we have been hard done by saying it doesn’t fit with the street scene, there isn’t one size that fits all here. They seem to be focused on the colour and the type but there is a right mix already on the street.
“The colour is our choice, I don’t understand why it is an issue. There is a jet black one across the road, a number of brick ones, I feel like we have been picked on. We had to peg blankets on the line to stop neighbours looking in”.
Following the hedge’s removal, the couple disclosed they were forced to drape blankets on their washing line to stop people peering into their home before erecting the fence. The property sits at the corner of Plodder Lane and Duchy Avenue, overlooking open countryside and fields which contribute to what has been described as a “semi-rural character”.
Whilst boundary treatments differ somewhat along the road, the inspector noted that homes typically feature comparatively open frontages with low walls, timber fencing or railings, often enhanced by mature hedging. The report described the 2.1m-high fence, located at the back edge of the pavement, as “very prominent” for those travelling along Plodder Lane.
Despite being embellished with a decorative trellis, the structure was judged to entirely enclose the frontage and appear “at odds with the open frontages, low walls and hedgerows of the dwellings opposite”.
The inspector also observed that the black composite panels “starkly contrast” with the red brick of the house and adjoining lower wall, branding the structure as a “discordant and strident feature in the street scene”.
The report mentioned that they considered the personal circumstances of the appellant – including privacy and security – but found scant evidence to suggest that the ‘height and materiality of the fence is necessary to achieve the security and privacy’.
They also concluded there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to suggest that a ‘safe and private environment for David’s home ‘could not be achieved in a manner which causes less harm to the character and appearance of the area’.
The couple say they have yet to receive an enforcement notice but if they were compelled to dismantle it, they said it would be ‘terrible’.
He remarked: “The appeal is the end of the line, an enforcement notice is usually the next course of action. The whole ordeal has been very stressful. Hopefully they will just order us to change the colour and not replace it with something else.”
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