A homeowner who built a six-foot wall outside his property for "privacy and security" has been locked in a two-year battle with the council because they want it demolished.
Mark Roberts paid £5,000 to erect the structure outside his home in Caerphilly, Wales in 2020. But just one year later he received a letter from Caerphilly County Borough Council demanding the wall be demolished.
“The wall is three years old this month and I had a huge conifer hedge there,” the garden product manufacturer told Wales Online.
“I took it all down because the wall was coming apart and it was getting dangerous. So I then built the wall - a nice strong wall, didn’t think anything of it, and then we had a letter from the council that someone had reported it.
“I was really shocked because the wall had been up for some time. I’m not the only one with a wall like this either. I’ve walked around the estate and there are a lot of walls like that and they’ve never had a problem.
“Another wall has been built across the road - a beautiful wall but a similar height to mine. But because no-one reported him he’s fine. If I reported all the people with high walls by here they’d go through the same thing, but I’d never do that, that’s not me."
Explaining why he felt the need to build the wall in the first place, Mark said: “We’ve had problems with things going missing from the garden, kids running in and out of the garden. We had syringes in the hedges, beer cans. It was ridiculous.”
Mark, who lives at Aneurin Bevan Avenue in Gelligaer, said he was unaware he had to get planning permission to build the wall and was told by Caerphilly County Borough Council officers that the structure would need to be demolished.
“It was a way to protect my home and it was for my privacy and security,” ex-coal miner Mark said.
“I’m proud of my home, I’m proud of my land. The estate is rundown and yet I try to do something nice and they try to destroy it."
The homeowner was told to put in a retrospective application for the wall, but the council rejected this request, Mark says.
In response, Mark decided to appeal to government department Planning and Environmental Decisions Wales (PEDW). This week Mark received the news that his appeal had largely been successful.
The inspector concluded: “I see no purpose in requiring the demolition of the wall in its entirety, only for a lower wall constructed using the same materials as those used on the main dwelling to be immediately erected under development rights. Therefore, and within the context that the enforcement process should be remedial rather than punitive, I find that the requirements of the notice are excessive in this case. I shall therefore vary the requirements of the notice to include the option of reducing the height of those elements of the wall.”
Mark insisted he was happy with the outcome but did still admit he was slightly disappointed. “I’m happy with that outcome. It’s better than saying ‘take it all down’ isn’t it?
"Initially they wanted me to demolish it, so it’s progress. I’m not as gutted as I thought I would be. We now have two months to alter it. I’ve got to reduce it to a metre in height, so I’ve nearly got to half it. I feel like I’ve won but I also feel like I’ve lost a bit.”
Wales Online have approached Caerphilly County Borough Council for comment.
