Planning laws regarding fences? - updated, pictures!

Ok, of course the council offices in our town could not help me and I could not go to the main offices as the weather turned really nasty yesterday (as nixon will have witnessed! ) - so I am still not any further, except for probably going to take the advice with the 4 1/2 feet fence panels instead of the 6 feet ones!
I took some photos of the garden from the bedroom window yesterday while it was nice and snowy (covering the worst sins!), so you can see what we are dealing with.

The view is basically towards the west - which means the line of mature big conifers blocks the worst of the north and north westerly winds without really blocking any sun which is a nice bonus and we are quite happy with the trees! In the foreground you can see the skeleton of a small apple tree which we will leave where it is - it does not look much in winter but it yields an amazing amount of tasty apples! Next to it the old shed which had the flair of an old air raid shelter and will have to go asap - a new shed will be between the house and where the line of conifers start. There's also the sad remains of an even sadder coal bunker which will also disappear. To the left of the picture what was once flowerbeds I suppose, now hopelessly overgrown and a halfhearted attempt on cultivating some of it for a vegetable patch last year failed miserably. At the bottom of the garden is the current pond (actually, two pre-fabricated ponds with a little solar pump pumping a small amount of water from the one into the other from where it trickles back to the main one - another half-hearted attempt from 2 years ago. Surrounding it an array of actually rather nicely established heathers and other little bits and pieces which we will incorporate into a sort of wild garden. There's even a monkey puzzle down there which is now 5 years old and we hope will take off growing upwards this year - it has already grown a number of new shoots to the sides so it seems to be ok with the soil and all that.
What we want to do is put some decking directly next to the house (imagine the kitchen / dining room directly underneath from where the photos are taken, including the door into the garden), then a sort of raised wooden path (as in extension to the decking) along the fence to the right (between the current shed and the fence) and then a main seating area of decking more or less central in what was once a flower bed. Beyond that seating area we then want to start a sizeable border sweeping along the fence and out towards the other side of the garden where you can see the arbour bench and the pampas grass bush, with the area behind the border sort of wild growing with hardy perennials and some shrubs and stuff. There will just be a small amount of lawn left in the lower half of the garden (towards the border) and the rest will be paving and gravel. And a new, more formal pond along the path between the two decking areas half underneath the apple tree, which itself will be surrounded by catnip (we got 4 cats to keep happy and keep from eating any flowers!)

Oh and you can also see in the left of the picture that hideous little wobbly fence which must be about 30 years old at least!





[ 04. March 2006, 06:38 PM: Message edited by: wishaw ]

 

What a nice project to get your teeth into Wishaw.

Regarding the problematic fence and I'm assuming it's the one on the left:-

My father told me that with regard to fences - "nails are hammered home" - this might indicate ownership in your case lies next door.

In some titles a boundary barrier is a shared responsibility and your deeds should show if this is the case.

If you are on good or reasonable terms with your neighbour could you not raise the matter of the decrepit fence and offer to replace it ( without bothering to jump through the local council's bureaucratic hoops)? They'll get a nice new fence free and being on the north of their garden it won't make much difference to sunlight even if you do increase the height a bit.
Your neighbour does seem to care about privacy going by the young firs trees that have been planted at the end of his garden.

The plans for your garden sound great. I'll look forward to seeing the "after" photos in six months time.

[ 04. March 2006, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: Dave W ]

 

Dave W - thanks for the encouragement - but as for the fence, that's exavtly the problem! The people living next door don't have a problem with a higher fence, but the owner of the house IS in fact the council! So we have no choice but to go through them will all the bureaucracy (well, what else would a �£100 council tax raise be for huh?) The deeds are not showing anything regarding ownership of the fence, and we had already figured out that by way of positioning of the posts it would be their fence not ours. But if we wait for the council to replace it we are stuck with it for another 10 years at least (our area is rather neglected, we get stuck without street lighting for weeks on end and once it's fixed we get stuck with huge holes in the pavement for another weeks on end, so you can't win!)

Well, I am very much looking forward to get the project off the ground once the frosts have passed. Yesterday I sowed out some seeds indoors, hoping they will catch on. After all, all my family are green finger, mainly my dad who taught me a lot when I was a kid, so I should be able to grow something!

Here's a picture of my dad's house and garden in springtime - in summer there's massive flowering borders around the house and path and all sorts of edibles growing in the garden which my mum is never able to use them all up! :D

 

Well, you've certainly got something to live up to, Wishaw! Judging by the roller blinds on the windows, surely they're not in your area?!

 

nixon, nope, my folks live in Germany. Colder in winter, hotter in summer...
The plastic greenhouse you can see, the two plastic tunnels and the two glass covered beds in the left of the pic are only a small part of the "seeding planting growing industry" my dad has running every year! He is now retiring from his day job and my mum is already fearing the worst! They also got another two patches outwith the village borders where he grows even more stuff! Some inheritance that!
Shame though that he isn't comfortable visiting us in Scotland for any length of time, otherwise I would just import him to landscape our garden from scratch - he is building everything himself! Sigh - would love to have him around for a year or so, our garden would not be recognizeable anymore!

 

Hi wishaw, I lived in a council property for many years and my neighbours and I merely supplied the council with details of the size and materials of fences, sheds etc we wanted to put up. The council were always obliging and quick to respond- have you tried ringing the housing department [I am assuming there is a house next door] and asking them? They are usually very happy when tenants or neighbour do some maintenance. If you are willing to pay the whole cost I can't see that there would be a problem.
With regard to your air raid shelter shed, I rather like it, if it could be moved I can imagine it painted and covered with roses or honeysuckle!

How old is your apple tree? If it is a standard, you may find that it will grow rather too large for its' present position.

[ 05. March 2006, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: Liz ]

 

Hi Liz,

I am planning to call the main council offices tomorrow (the housing department working locally told me I need to speak to the planning department in the main offices).

The air raid shelter shed is very much an eyesore, the holes on top where it is screwed together are quite rusty and we had to cover them with duct tape to minimise water damage to the inside (it is Scotland after all! *wink*), and the wooden parts (front and end panels) are full of holes, chewed by mice and all that. It is altogether too small and dark... we want a typical Apex shed with windows. So if anyone wants the air raid shelter shell (made of iron), you can come pick it up, if not the scrap metal place will get it soon. Oh by the way, once that goes we will have a number of nicely aged and weathered railway sleepers for anyone interested, as this is what we use for flooring inside the air raid shelter after the original floorboards gave way! Any takers?

 

Oh, PS to Liz, I don't know the age of the apple tree but I don't think it is growing anymore - it did not grow upwards since we moved in two years ago, just new branches to the sides. The stem of it sits at roughly 3 metres from the house so there is actually a bit of room -

 

Wishaw, could you not re-use your sleepers either as a base for your new deluxe shed or as borders for a raised bed?

 

Dave, we will certainly not throw the sleepers away if nobody wants them *wink* - we would find some use for them, however, we are not actually planning with them in mind, so I mean if anyone else wants any, give us a shout - if no one shouts, we incorporate them ourselves!
PS the new shed will be sitting on a paved base...

 

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000088
for discussion re insultation and concrete bases in g/houses!

 

P.S. - used to live in Germany, as an ex-German teacher! Thought the roller blinds were a tad continental! Is it in the Ruhr area, where the army are based?

 

nixon, not quite, it is actually in East Germany! Yes I am a communist hee hee... and invading Scotland!

I wish I had these kinds of roller blinds here... neighbourhood children love throwing all sorts of crap including mud and eggs onto the windows of the houses in the area when it is dark outside and the blinds would keep the force of those assaults at bay a bit!
Oh let the summer come, long light nights and nothing thrown against the living room window!

 

Near Jena? That's the area of Germany I've been in most recently - rather known for glass , albeit for microiscopes, binoculars, etc! I really have been there a lot! It gets even colder in the Harz than in Scotland,honestly! Seen the Brockenhexe lately??

 

Well we are getting there nixon - it is actually near the Harz mountains rather than near Jena. In fact, only about 15 miles from Thale where the Brocken witches go dancing. Been there?
Here's my wee "declaration of love" to the town of my birth if you want to have a look: Quedlinburg