A homeowner in Bearsden has successfully appealed against East Dunbartonshire Council’s refusal to allow the construction of a new garden fence, although the project will need to be revised somewhat.

The application, concerning a property in Antonine Road, had been refused by planning officers but the case was considered at a recent session of the local review body.

The application was originally refused because it was deemed that the fence would obstruct driver visibility at the corner of Antonine Road and Duntocher Road and also depart from the character of the area, where garden boundaries are predominantly marked with low concrete edging – two breaches of local planning policy.

Councillor Gordan Low (SNP, Bishopbriggs South) queried the height of the fence as a range of figures up to 2.1 metres were stated in reports but it was confirmed that some variation in this would be caused by the topography of the location. He also pointed out that council traffic officers had indicated that a height of 1.5 metres would allow the required visibility.

Councillor Susan Murray(Liberal Democrat, Kirkintilloch East and North and Twechar) referred to a site visit which had been made in November and sought to clarify that moving the fence in from the boundary by a distance of 1.5 metres would be considered acceptable.

It was confirmed that a draft condition calling for further assessment of this option had been written were councillors minded to grant the application. Councillor Murray proposed introducing this in the form of an amendment. Convening the meeting was Councillor Callum McNally (Labour, Lenzie and Kirkintilloch South) said he would not dispute this as, having been unable to attend the site visit, he would not be involved in the local review body’s decision.

Councillor Murray then proposed granting the application subject to this condition being put forward.

Councillor Jim Gibbons (SNP, Milngavie) queried whether it would be competent to also apply conditions limiting the height of the hedge in the garden but was advised this would be difficult to control under the council’s planning powers, and that environmental regulations would be better suited to this purpose. Councillor Gibbons then seconded Councillor Murray’s motion.

The motion was then agreed unanimously, meaning planning permission was granted with the agreed conditions in place.