Retired Bolton couple David and Denise Hopwood’s appeal was dismissed after a neighbour complained
09:53, 16 Mar 2026Updated 11:11, 16 Mar 2026
David Hopwood blasted council bosses after being ordered to rip down a 7 ft tall fence(Image: William Lailey / SWNS)
A retired couple face being told to demolish a £4,500 seven-foot fence they built for ‘privacy and security’ after losing a council appeal. David and Denise Hopwood, from Bolton, put up the 25-metre-long, grey composite fence around their property for privacy and low maintenance.
It replaced an ageing, nine-foot-high hedge that had become increasingly difficult and costly to maintain due to their age and health conditions. However, a neighbour complained to the council about its height, forcing David, 67, and Denise, 66, to seek retrospective planning permission.
Last year, the couple were told permission had been refused on the grounds it was incompatible with the ‘character and appearance of the surrounding area’. The retired pair hit back, arguing that the hedge had cost £800 a year to maintain and that the fence – complete with a 1ft trellis and gravel boards – had ‘transformed’ their lives.
Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our WhatsApp group by clicking HERE. And don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE.
The couple appealed the ruling at the time but in the last few days, following a site visit last month, the council stood firm, leaving them facing the prospect of tearing down the fence.
An official document outlined five reasons for dismissing their appeal, stating that its location, materials, colour and size ‘appears a discordant and strident feature in the street scene’.
David said: “We both have arthritis and the hedge was out of control, we weren’t able to look after it. We put it up for privacy and security, as well as it is ideal for maintenance purposes.
Bolton Council has since told the couple to remove the 25 meter fence(Image: William Lailey / SWNS)
“I feel we have been hard done by saying it doesn’t fit with the street scene, there isn’t one size that fits all here. They seem to be focused on the colour and the type but there is a right mix already on the street.
“The colour is our choice, I don’t understand why it is an issue. There is a jet black one across the road, a number of brick ones, I feel like we have been picked on.”
‘We had to peg blankets on the line to stop neighbours looking in’
Following the removal of the hedge, the couple said they resorted to pegging blankets on the washing line to stop passers-by looking into their home before they put up the fence.
The property sits on the corner of Plodder Lane and Duchy Avenue, opposite open fields and countryside, which contribute to what is described as “semi-rural character”.
The 7ft fence surrounds the property which sits on the corner of Plodder Lane and Duchy Avenue(Image: William Lailey / SWNS)
While there is some variation in boundary treatments along the road, the inspector noted that homes are typically characterised by relatively open frontages with low walls, timber fencing or railings, often softened by mature hedging.
The report said the 2.1m-high fence, positioned at the back edge of the pavement, is “very prominent” when travelling along Plodder Lane.
Despite being topped with a decorative trellis, it was found to fully enclose the frontage and appear “at odds with the open frontages, low walls and hedgerows of the dwellings opposite”.
The inspector also said the black composite panels “starkly contrast” with the red brick of the house and adjoining lower wall, describing the structure as a “discordant and strident feature in the street scene”.
Before the fence was built, the couple said they had to peg washing outside their home to stop neighbours peering in(Image: William Lailey / SWNS)
The report said they considered the personal circumstances of the appellant – including privacy and security – but there was little evidence to claim that the ‘height and materiality of the fence is necessary to achieve the security and privacy’.
They also said there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to suggest that a ‘safe and private environment for David’s home ‘could not be achieved in a manner which causes less harm to the character and appearance of the area’.
The couple say they have yet to receive an enforcement notice but if they were forced to pull it down, they said it would be ‘terrible’.
He said: “The appeal is the end of the line, an enforcement notice is usually the next course of action. The whole ordeal has been very stressful. Hopefully they will just order us to change the colour and not replace it with something else.”