A bit off topic... Fences...

Haha I love the platform idea Tetters. That's a cunning plan. Cheers for the advice on planting, I guess it will just have to be that. But as for persuading her? Nah. She's a stubborn so and so. Actually seeing the benefits of being curtained from her to be honest now

 

Sounds very similar to what I'm doing.. except my neighbour is housing association but our boundary is shared ownership. And our retaining wall is shot, I'm putting a 6ft high fence along one side and I'm about 2ft higher up.. I couldn't give a if they haven't got light though

 

In order to apply to the Council to "enforce" the High Hedge Act certain conditions need to be met before they will even *touch* it! Those conditions are: you have tried to resolve it with the neighbour on two occasions and then taken it to mediation for a third attempt. If all three attempts fail, then you can take it to the Council.
As you quite rightly highlight, there is a fee charged for their involvement (after you have satisfied the criteria of three previous attempts to work it out with the neighbour) and their "reasoning" behind the charge is as a deterrent for spite reporting! I can sort of see the sense in that but my argument would be that, having satisfied the criteria of 3 attempts to resolve the differences, an appeal to the council could hardly be deemed "spite" reporting!

Ok, so, in a nutshell: you wish to grow your vegetables there and now you are concerned you cannot grow your veg there due to lack of light. Is that fair to say?
In a nutshell, the real question is just how much light you are going to be getting and I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you should get adequate to ensure you get 6 hours of sunlight per day during the growing season. Bear in mind it should still receive early morning light (from the east) and late afternoon/early evening light (from the west). But, for part of the day - midday/the hottest part of the day - it may well have some shade (which could be a blessing as it will save your plants being scorched).
Maybe rethink what you are growing in that space? For example, peas/beans will love the back of that space and will harness that fence (with a bit of netting) for growth and won't mind in the slightest that they won't be getting the full blast of sun: win:win! In front of that, you could try other part shade loving veggies e.g. chard, spinach, rocket; maybe herbs such as chives, mint, Autumn raspberries. In front of those (where it is likely to get more of the direct sunlight) you could have your full sun lovers: strawberries, tomatoes, basil, rosemary, soft fruits.
The depth of shade will increase during the Autumn months and will recede come the Spring months so it is really a question of balancing your soil warming with light access. It's very do-able but does take a bit of planning.

Best of British

 

Nah, due to the positioning it's an area that will get no light at all. I would get light first thing in the morning if it wasn't for my house being in the way!

Nevermind, I've made new plans. Cheers for the advice everyone.

 

It could be a lot worse!

Your neighbour could use the existing concrete fence as a retaining wall and raise the ground level their side, say by 300mm/one foot. The height of the 2m high fence permitted is measured from the (new raised) ground level in their garden. They could also attach some trellis to their fence, flush with the top, then train climbing plants up it and allow them to grow another 300mm above the fence.

The total height of that would be 2.6m/8 feet 6 inches above the level of your garden.