4, Perkins Walk, Spennymoor, Durham, DL16 7FZ

Garden fence below 2 metres in height - required as constant trespassing through front garden and have major safety concerns. I had originally asked Barratts to install a fence or bushes due to my concerns about lack of privacy - they advised they wouldn’t pay if I decided to put up a fence - I did pay and fence has been up since 2020. I checked with neighbours both sides

Authority: Durham County Council
Appeal type: householder · Householder (HAS)
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: other · Householder developments
Inspector: Storey P

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the development would have an acceptable effect on the character and appearance of the area

What decided it

The development introduces a notably more solid and enclosing form of boundary treatment that creates an undue sense of enclosure and diminishes the spatial and visual qualities that positively contribute to the character of the area, conflicting with the development plan.

Plan policies cited: Policy 29 of the County Durham Plan, Adopted 2020, Residential Amenity Standards Supplementary Planning Document, January 2023

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.

Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.

Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.

Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.

Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.