High Boundary

My garden is 40ft long, terraced down from the bungalow.  This terracing continues in the very short garden beyond, where the house bedroom windows are level with my kitchen.  Between us is an 11ft high hedge to give privacy both ways.  The hedge has become a nightmare to maintain, and age and common sense say it must go.  But what do I replace it with?  I am thinking of a 6ft fence topped with 3ft trellis and climbers, but any fence over 2m high is illegal without planning permission.  Would that matter if both parties want it?  Or trees? Tall shrubs?  (Both would have to be columnar).  Next door have 12ft leylandii, but NO!  Has anyone any ideas?

The fence would be 6ft tall and acceptable, and the trellis is a trellis and not a fence, so that would be OK. That's my interpretation of it anyway. That's what I did in our last garden.

The 6ft high frence would be ok but I seem to recall reading somewhere you can only attach a trellis a foot high ontop, I'm happy to be wrong though and if you both agree go ahead but a 9ft wooden strcture will not stand up to many years of wind, rain, sun  and snow.

Is it possible to plant something part way down your garden - maybe climbers on trellis? Due to some mathematiclal stuff to do with angles, it wouldn't need to be as high as 11 ft to achieve the result you want. Then it wouldn't matter if the boundary fence was only 6 ft.

You could plant a "hedge on stilts" inside your boundary and have just a 6' fence on the boundary.  You plant a row of hedge such as beech, copper beach, hornbeam or even catalpa and use a system of tall posts and cross bars to train horizontal stems to provide a privacy or shade barrier.  There's a photo here to illustrate - http://s211.photobucket.com/albums/bb262/Obelixx_be/1205%20Chelsea%20Flower%20Show/?action=view&current=BG46.jpg

They are used a lot here in Belgium to provide shade in parking areas, privacy in gardens and also just as attractive features within gardens because they give height and structure without bulk and you can plant other things beneath them.

Dux,

What plants are in your present hedge, and has it always been 11 ft high while you've lived there?

Flobear's idea is a good one

The best way to find out what you're allowed to do in terms of boundaries is to go and ask the Planning Department rather than guess or take the advice of the possibly badly-informed guesses of others. Planners are very helpful, know the law and often have good alternative suggestions to make.

Don't forget that whatever you do it's got to have appeal for a future buyer of your house or your neighbours', so don't make a problem for them or yourself.

Joe

We live on a fairly new housing estate and obvously privacy is an issue.

We have a 5 foot  fence  with 1 half feet of trellis fixed very securely to the top.   I have ivy, pyracantha and climbing hydrangea.  I then have grown clematis, jasmine, roses and honeysuckle through these.  They have made about another 2 feet of growth which gives very good privacy, being mostly everygreens.  Also have had blackbirds nesting in the ivy this year.  Ivy takes a little while to get going but pyracantha just romps away and the birds love it. 

Just a few ideas.  Linda

The plants have grown way above the trellis, adding about another 2 feet to the height

Thanks everyone.  I have looked at the planning issue, and trellis on top of a fence does count as a fence, and the total height must not be more than 2m. As for plants growing above the fence - they're ok provided there are no solid supports for them.  The use of training wires above the fence seems to be a bit of a grey area.  You've given me a lot to think about.

Dux

We have a privacy issue following our neighbours removing a row of conifers.  We have done something similar to Lavender Lady with a mixture of shrubs, small trees and climbers (pyracantha, photinia, laurels, honeysuckle, clematis) which are in a border next to a 6 ft fence with an extra foot of trellis on top.  I like this effect as is a bit more interesting than a hedge and you should have a good screen eventually!  We have also created a trellis screen around the patio which works well because unfortunately we have first floor windows looking down at us so we had no privacy at all in our garden.

I'm on a slope and to cut to the chase the neighbouring fence with a 2ft drop is 8ft high on one side. I built a 6ft high trellis 1ft in front of the fence and have ivy, honey suckle, 3 clematis - two of which are evergreen, solanum glasnevin and a lavatera barnsley climbing up it. It was only planted up last year and already the trellis is slowly being covered to hide the fence. There's also an escallonia planted to one side and lots of room infront of the screen to plant other stuff.