This type of question online often leads to answers about your legal rights and the height of a fence permitted by planning laws in the UK. But that’s not always the answer people are looking for. Deciding how high your fence should be needs to take into account your personal preferences and requirements. It’s a matter of looking at what suits you, your family and your property.
To get it out of the way, the planning limit height is 2.0 metres. But, people don’t always realise that this would only be considered if a neighbour complained and it’s not uncommon for people to have fencing much higher than this.
With this in mind, this post looks at some of the considerations you might want to take into account when choosing the height of your garden fence.
1. Privacy
Of course, privacy on your own land what we expect of a garden fence. But this doesn’t always mean you want it as high as you’re possibly allowed. It’s worth thinking about what view and perspective your neighbour has and what height is enough to achieve the level of privacy you desire.
Remember that next door may have an upstairs window that looks over your garden and so an excessively high fence may not be enough to ensure privacy.
2. Your View
It would be a shame to obscure a beautiful view from your garden without good cause.
It only takes a few moments to work out how high a fence would need to be to prevent you from seeing over into a field or reservoir that you’re lucky enough to live next to. These things may have influenced the buying price of your house so you should make sure you can enjoy them.
3. Fence Design
The design you choose will have an effect on how high your fence will be. Some garden fences, for example, those that have gaps between the panels, allow for a good view to be maintained but still afford a high level of privacy.
When choosing a design, this can be taken into account to adjust your decision on height and vice versa. You may choose different designs that have a common feature but work well together and suit different parts of the garden.
4. Fence Length
A very short fence can afford to be much higher and be less imposing. When the fence is the full length of a garden, its height will be very noticeable largely because it will be the most prominent feature.
A short piece of fencing, on the other hand, can be much higher. You may choose to use a combination of short and tall fencing throughout the garden to achieve a certain effect.
In summary, you firstly need to think about what the fence’s main purpose is and what your trade-offs are for installing it. When doing this, make a list of the things you want the fence to do and then another of the things you want to keep. Then you’ll be more informed to make a decision.
5. Also…Which Way to Face Your Fence?
At the same time you’re thinking about how tall the fence should be, you’ll want to start thinking about which way it will face. Towards you or away from you? In short, if you own the fence, it can face whichever way you choose. There’s a popular misconception that the nice side of the fence should always face outwards, but this simply isn’t true. This means you’re free to enjoy the side of the fence without posts without breaking any planning rules.
