LDRSAn East Lothian resident ordered to take down a garden fence enclosing part of her front garden has appealed, saying it has improved the safety and privacy of her home.
Gillian Anderson moved the fence at the side of her house on a new build estate in Haddington, around a metre forward to enclose a strip of grass belonging to the property, which she argued was “unusable”.
East Lothian planners ruled the move breached the council’s open front garden policy and ordered her to take it down or face enforcement action.
Ms Anderson has now appealed to the council’s Local Review Body after pointing out several neighbouring houses on the street where she lives, St David’s Way, also have six-foot-high fences at the front and that it improves her home.
In a statement to the review body, she says: “This fence encloses a small private garden accessed directly from patio doors at the side of the house, forming a vital part of our private living space.
“The area was previously a narrow, unusable strop between an existing boundary wall and an earlier section of fence. Extending the fence by approx one metre has made the garden more practical, safer and more private for daily family use.”
Planners had refused permission for the new fence saying it set a ‘harmful precedent’ in the estate where low stone walls are used as front garden boundaries.
And they said the new position of the fence and a gate, which was created at the side. risked sparking similar actions from other residents.
They said: “The fences and gate would set a harmful precedent for allowing the addition of similar forms of fencing to be erected on the front roadside boundaries of the front gardens of other residential properties within the locality.
“Such change would be individually and cumulatively out of keeping with the character and appearance of the residential properties in the development, to the greater detriment of the streetscape.”
However in her appeal to the review body, Ms Anderson points out there are a number of similar fences already in place in the surrounding area, arguing it has not affected the character of the area.
She says: “There are several other 1.8m height timber fences facing roads within close proximity, some of which are directly across from my property. These show this type of boundary treatment is common and does not detract from the wider streetspace.”
The review body will meet to discuss the appeal next month.
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