Council planners don’t sit on the fence in Haddington ‘trellis’ row

East Lothian Council refused planning permission for the timber fence during the summer and issued an enforcement notice to the owner of the house.However, in an appeal to Scottish Ministers, homeowner Kenneth Young insisted that the structure was a trellis for climbing plants – pointing to a neighbour’s hedge, which did not require planning permission.The local authority has now withdrawn the enforcement notice due to an “administration error”.However, in a letter to the Scottish Government Reporter, they said: “It is our intention to amend this error and re-serve this enforcement notice accordingly. ”Mr Young told the Reporter that the structure, which he referred to as a plant supporting structure, would eventually be completely covered by mature plants.The local authority has a policy of having open front gardens which applies to the Clerkington Road area, although it does allow hedges and fences of a one metre height or less.The council’s planning officer said that the ‘fence’ was up to two metres high in some places.Mr Young said in his appeal that the structure had been praised by some neighbours.He said: “The structure we built in our front garden is a trellis to support our evergreen climbing plants.“It has been built to match our neighbours’ hedge height and painted the same colour not to look out of place while the plants are developing.“These plants are blooming from early spring to late autumn, which is good for butterflies, bees and other insects.“Lots of neighbours in 2020 commented on how lovely it looked and it will look beautiful once the whole structure is completely covered by matured plants.“These plants are only one year old and as you can see are pretty big already so it will not be long before the whole structure is completely covered and will look like any other neighbour’s green hedge.”In refusing planning permission, the council said the open front gardens in the Clerkington Road and Burnside area of the town were a “distinctive characteristic feature” and allowing the structure would set a precedent.

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