Council Tells Homeowner to Tear down £12k Wall because It's 20cm Too Tall
In the News
This story only cements my thoughts about how petty and ridiculous councils can be
This man spent £12,000 on a beautiful stone wall to replace a rickety old wooden fence that was almost falling down
Because one nosey dogsbody complained about the wall the council investigated its' height and found it to be 20 cm too high and contravening regulations
They dont care about how nice it looks or the fact it is safer for the public now because they cannot climb over , drunk or otherwise , and tumble two metres down the other side
They have threatened to bulldoze the wall if it isn't lowered !!
I hope he sorts this out, looking at the wall it seems if one stone was removed all the way along it would meet their criteria
To me trying to get something done with councils is like talking to a brick wall !! 
metro.co.uk/2023/12/19/council-orders-man-rip-12-000-wall-20cm-high-19998257/?ito=article.mweb.share.top.link
As you say, this is another example of a ludicrous decision, the new wall is shorter than the old fence, in keeping with the area and is absolutely lovely. Council decisions, these days, seem to be made by the least qualified person in the building and to think that we pay these people to keep making these absurd decisions!
I don't really have any sympathy tbh. I mean where do you draw the line? 20cm? 50cm? 2m?
There's been a few cases in this area where developers have been building without planning permission with the most recent one being a developer building 4 luxury glamping style pods and hot tubs in the countryside costing hundreds of thousands. He was told to demolish them immediately and return the area to how it was. People here are very happy with the decision because we're absolutely sick of people flouting the rules thinking that they can get away with it
It can't just be a free for all with people building what they want even if it looks nice
TheChimp Lets hope he can alter it without the council demolishing it TC, as i mentioned just taking one stone off the top all along should do it , i know he broke the rules but in his case he wasn't building something to make a profit from it like developers do, he made his wall safer than the existing fence and a better view for the neighbours
If the builder is at fault then he should replace free of charge. If the homeowner gave the height measurements then hard luck, pull it down.
Councils are often ridiculous but the builder should have followed the height regulations 
Regulations are regulations so I have no sympathy whatsoever, someone in our street a few back put a 10 foot fence around his property, it looked like colditz lol council was on it like a flash
Omg crazy. It's only 20cm. Crazy if it was like a metre I'd get it. But 20cm is nothing
Jerseydrew If the wall was adjoined to a neighbour i could understand , but its not, so i dont see the problem
Some petty neighbour must have gone to the trouble of measuring the wall before reporting him , a gentleman who is in his 70's , so just done out of spite in my opinion, a case of the green eyed monster
telmel yes I agree it's got to be spite. Some people out there are awful if you ask me.
I guess it depends on the impact on neighbours. I agree 20cm doesn’t seem like a lot but the rules are the rules and you have to have a cut off point.
Round where i live people keep applying for planning permission then when it gets approved they build something different. Im glad the councils are making them tear things down
jms19 I think that is where peoples property are overlooked by a new build item, such as a wall or fence, where it might cause them to lose light or other reason to annoy them
But i just cannot see how a beautiful wall like this , that replaced an old rickety 'fence' can cause 'offence'
Besides helping prevent people breaking their necks falling down the gulley the other side
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