Man fined £600 and handed criminal conviction for building garden fence 'too high'

A man has been fined more than £600 and handed a criminal conviction for building a garden fence too high. Farhan Khan built a timber fence on top of an existing brick wall at his home in Bassett, Southampton.

But as the wall was higher than one metre tall and stood next to a road, Farhan needed planning permission as stated in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

However as he had built the wall without applying for planning permission, he had therefore breached planning rules. When made aware of the breach, he made an application to Southampton council’s planning department for retrospective permission.

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But this was refused in January 2023 because the fence went against the policies of the Bassett Neighbourhood Plan. In May 2023, the council then ordered Farhan to take down the fence by the end of June.

It was only then that he tried to appeal the retrospective permission being refused - but he was too late. The Planning Enforcement Notice then came into effect in June 2023 and gave him one month to move the fence.

Following further visits by officers after the deadline to remove the fence had expired, a letter was issued to Farhan again to request the fence to be removed. He was also advised that prosecution proceedings would be started for failing to comply with the Planning Enforcement Notice.

No response was received, and therefore Mr Khan was summoned to Southampton Magistrates Court for failure to comply with the requirements of a Planning Enforcement Notice after the time for compliance has expired.

On 13 November, the case was heard at the Magistrates’ Court and Farhan entered a guilty plea. He was fined a total of £622 and now has a criminal conviction.

Councillor Sarah Bogle, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said: “The planning system exists to balance an owners’ rights with those of their neighbours, communities, and others.

"A key concern for local people in Bassett is the protection of the character of the area which is enshrined in the Bassett Neighbourhood Plan.

“In this case, our Planning Enforcement team took the appropriate action by bringing this prosecution to maintain the unique character of the Bassett area and support local peoples’ priorities as laid out in the Neighbourhood Plan.”