A man has been fined over £600 and handed a criminal conviction for building a garden fence too high. Farhan Khan built the timber fence on top of the existing brick wall at his home in Bassett, Southampton. As the wall was more than one metre tall and next to a road, he needed planning permission as stated in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
However Farhan had not applied for planning permission and had therefore breached planning rules. When made aware of the breach, he made an application to Southampton council’s planning department for retrospective permission. But this was refused in January 2023 because the fence went against the policies of the Bassett Neighbourhood Plan.
In May 2023, the council ordered Farhan to take down the fence by the end of June. It was only then that he tried to appeal the retrospective permission being refused – but he was too late. The Planning Enforcement Notice then came into effect in June 2023 and gave one month for the fence to be removed.
Following further visits by officers after the deadline to remove the fence had expired, Farhan was written to again to require the fence to be removed and to advise that prosecution proceedings would be started for failing to comply with the Planning Enforcement Notice. No response was received, and Mr. Khan was summonsed to Southampton Magistrates Court for failure to comply with the requirements of a Planning Enforcement Notice after the time for compliance has expired.
On 13 November, the case was heard at the Magistrates’ Court and Farhan entered a guilty plea. He was fined a total of £622 and has a criminal conviction.
Councillor Sarah Bogle, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said: “The planning system exists to balance an owners’ rights with those of their neighbours, communities, and others. A key concern for local people in Bassett is the protection of the character of the area which is enshrined in the Bassett Neighbourhood Plan.
“In this case, our Planning Enforcement team took the appropriate action by bringing this prosecution to maintain the unique character of the Bassett area and support local peoples’ priorities as laid out in the Neighbourhood Plan.”