A COUPLE have likened their garden to “Colditz” after their neighbour put up a three-metre spiked fence around her property for “privacy” – just two months after moving in.
Alison and Ian Lawrence said the “hideous” structure surrounding Deborah Olthof’s home was constructed without permission and has “ruined” their garden – which they recently spent £20,000 on to landscape.
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After putting in a retrospective application, the local authority have allowed real estate managing director Ms Olthof – who moved to the coastal town last Spring – to keep the fence, a move which Mrs Lawrence, 58, branded “soul destroying”.
The business owner and her husband, 71, have now slammed the local council in New Milton, Hants, for showing “no regard to the detriment of our property” – said they will escalate the matter “as far” as they can.
Ms Olthof moved into her £640,000 four-bed home in April of last year and built the spiked fence some two months later.
While there was previously a fence in the rear garden, this has been “grossly heightened” by Ms Olthof as part of her works – and is now “in excess” of three metres, according to her neighbour.
Mrs Lawrence, a mother of three adult children, said since it was constructed, the fence has caused “major problems” as it “overshadows the garden”.
“It’s ruined our property,” she said.
“If we wanted to sell our property, I don’t know of anybody that would want to buy it seeing that fence like that.”
The fence surrounding the detached house is lined with small plastic spikes which are often used as “pest control” to stop cats from entering, or leaving, the property.
Mrs Lawrence said the fence is “so high” that they can’t “manage” the guttering on the house – as they are unable to get a ladder in the narrow gap between their roof and the high timber fence.
“It’s actually in line with the beginning of our roof,” she said.
In October, Ms Olthof sought retrospective planning permission to keep the fence which was granted by New Forest District Council in November.
Mrs Lawrence said this was despite the local New Milton authority writing a letter of objection to the authority saying the fence is “unsightly, unneighbourly and over dominant”.
Of the decision, the homeowner – who also moved to the New Forest last year – said: “We don’t think that anybody did their jobs properly.”
The business owner said the neighbour “got everything” and slammed the council for paying “no regard to the detriment of our property”.
“There’s no regard to our objections at all and they were within all the guidelines,” she said.
“I can’t believe that anybody would approve a fence of that magnitude – it’s hideous.
“They just allowed it to go through.”
She claimed the council took “the path of least resistance” so they wouldn’t have to dip into their budget by carrying out enforcement.
What is Colditz Castle?
Colditz is a castle near Leipzig in Germany, and over the river Zwickauer Mulde – and was most famously used as a POW camp in WW2.
It was first mentioned in a historical document in 1046, but wasn’t built into a proper castle until around 1084.
Colditz – constructed by the electors of Saxony as a demonstration of power – was first destroyed by The Hussites in 1429.
It was rebuilt at the end of the following century in the Renaissance style and experienced a second heydey under Christian I and his wife Sophie of Brandenburg.
By the 19th century it had become a workhouse and then a state institute for the mentally ill.
Between 1939 and 1945 the castle was used as a prisoner of war camp for allied officers during World War II.
Colditz is currently a youth hostel and tourist attraction.
Mrs Lawrence said a council officer even likened it to Colditz, a former royal residence in Germany that became a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II.
“It’s a mix of Colditz and like we’re living by the motorway – we’re completely penned out,” she said.
She said despite feeling as if “there’s nothing that we can actually do” – she plans on taking the matter “as far as I can”.
“There’s got to be some course of regress, some course of fairness,” she said.
“I hoped that we could reach a compromise with the fencing, we didn’t want to have a neighbour that we fall out with but it’s really unreasonable.”
The homeowners also complained about the fence installed at front of the property – which has proven to be a “hazard” for them when reversing onto their busy road.
This is because the structure at the front makes it difficult for them to see approaching traffic.
In her public objection, Mrs Lawrence wrote: “We understood that the fence was erected to give more privacy and also for safety reasons for the applicant but since the fence adjoins an area of decking in her garden which has artificially raised the height between the two properties, we have to suffer the applicant looking down into our garden lending no privacy to us.”
The homeowner said the application is “in breach of national planning policies”.
After feeling completely ignored by the local authority, they said they are now set to report the matter to the Government ombudsman.
The New Forest District Council approved the fence and said that Ms Olthof’s garden has decking which creates a ‘high boundary treatment’.
They said that while it does have “some impact” on the Lawrences property, these to not “warrant a refusal”.
Ms Olthof was approached for comment.
She said she does have planning permission for the fence and said the council were satisfied with all aspects of it, including the height.
And, she noted that her house is on a higher plot – which was taken into consideration by the council.
New Forest District Council said: “The design and impact of the fence on the area and neighbours were carefully assessed.
“Complaints will be handled by the development management service manager as per our corporate complaints procedure, details of which are on our website.
“There is no right of appeal against this planning decision.
“If the neighbour remains dissatisfied after our complaint process, the matter could be referred to the Local Government Ombudsman.”
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