Family ordered to remove garden fence that 'made UK market town look ugly'

A family has been ordered to take down a fence, which the council said harmed the town's aesthetics. Sophie Daly, a mother in Chepstow, Wales, had sought permission to keep the 1.98m fence, which exceeds the height of a "dwarf wall", along with a garden gate.

She said the fence was "enhancing safety and security" for her child and the family's large breed dog. Sophie argued it provided superior protection from noise and pollution generated by the busy A48 near her home, compared to the hedge it had replaced, for the detached two-storey property. The fence was erected at the St Lawrence Road home between February and April this year, with Ms Daly submitting a retrospective application in August. Her application received backing from Paul Pavia, the Conservative councillor for the town's Mount Pleasant ward, Chepstow Town Council, and the sole neighbour who responded to Monmouthshire County Council's planning department, describing themselves as a resident who "they enjoy seeing the new well-kept addition" and calling the fence "modern but respectable".

But council planners took a different view, stating that given the "prominent location" at an entrance to the town, the gate and fence "cause unacceptable harm to the visual amenity and open character of the area", leading them to recommend refusal.

Planning officer Philip Thomas noted the property sits at a "visually prominent entrance to Chepstow". The planning committee members concurred and dismissed the application, although three councillors opposed the refusal recommendation and one abstained.

Rachel Buckler, a Conservative councillor for Devauden, acknowledged the concerns raised but said: "I do think it is detrimental and not in keeping and to my mind the hedge was better."

Emma Bryn, an Independent member for Wyesham, expressed her worry that approving the fence could "set a precedent" with "a really negative effect on the environment of Chepstow".

Cllr Pavia reminded the committee that neither the council's highways department nor the Welsh Government, which oversees the A48, had objected, and argued that the fence offered "protection from one of Chepstow's busiest roads".

He added: "It is very near the infamous Highbeech roundabout. It is not a rural lane but a noisy, polluted urban corridor."

The committee was also advised to reject the application due to insufficient "appropriate ecological mitigation or compensation" for the removed hedge.

Ms Daly's application proposed providing a bird box and a "bug hotel" in the front garden.