Weeting homeowner will have to pull fence down after planning inspector sides with Breckland Council over its height

It was put up to keep his privacy after a water company felled trees at the front of his property.

But after a battle with officials, a homeowner in Weeting has been told he will have to rip down his fence as it doesn’t match the picket-lined streets of the village.

Barry Joseph, who owns the bungalow in St Edmund Road, faced enforcement action from Breckland Council who complained his 1.7m wooden perimeter was too tall and broke planning regulations.

According to the legislation, a fence at the front of a property cannot be any higher than one metre.

The authority complained it spoiled the street scene, with most of the other houses on the street having low-picket fences.

Mr Joseph put the fencing up to replace a row of conifers that were chopped down by Anglian Water engineers for them to fix a burst water main.

He said this was done in order to retain some of the privacy the trees had previously offered.

In his appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, he argued he had checked with neighbours who didn’t have a problem with his fence and the village parish council also had no objections.

But the inspector decided he agreed with Breckland Council and dismissed the appeal as it “detracts from the more open character and appearance of front gardens” in the street and wider area.

Mr Joseph will now have to take his fence down.

The decision is very different to another fencing row in a neighbouring county.

A two-year battle between East Suffolk Council and villagers in Worlingham ended after the authority decided to withdraw its objections, allowing two properties less than a hundred metres apart to keep their wooden borders more than a metre tall.