Inspector overturns council order to remove fence

Worcester City Council Enforcement Action on Garden Fence

Worcester City Council took enforcement action regarding a 1.5-metre tall garden fence located at the corner of Columbia Drive and Quebec Close in Lower Wick.

Council enforcement officers stated that the fence must be removed entirely, relocated to at least two metres from the road, or reduced to a height of one metre.

Additionally, the council offered the resident an option to move the fence to 1.7 metres from the road and plant a hedgerow between the fence and the pavement.

Planning Inspector Quashes Enforcement Notice

A planning inspector has allowed an appeal and quashed the enforcement notice. Planning inspector M. Savage identified a flaw in the options proposed by the council regarding a replacement fence.

“In order to comply with either of these requirements, the appellant must first remove the fence. This would itself remedy the breach,” the inspector stated.

“The appellant would then have to erect the fence in a different part of the site, which itself is development. Whether or not such development would be permitted is debatable.”

Appeal Success Criteria

The inspector noted that for the appeal to succeed, the appellant must demonstrate “on the balance of probabilities” that the fence had been in place for more than four years by the time the council issued the enforcement notice on August 1, 2024.

After reviewing evidence from the appellant’s partner and the company that installed the fence, the inspector concluded: “I consider it is more likely than not, that the fence was substantially completed by August 1, 2020, and so the appeal succeeds.”

Fence Installation Details

Webb Maintenance Ltd reported that the fence was installed between July 20 and 22, 2020. A photograph of the completed fence, dated July 30, 2020, was submitted to the inspector.

Retrospective plans for the fence and a house extension at 100 Columbia Drive were rejected by the city council in July 2024.