Council orders man to rip down wall even though it looks better than fence it replaced

A homeowner has been ordered to demolish his brand new £12,000 garden wall – because the council said it was eight inches too high.

Bear Mason, 74, built the four-foot stone wall this summer to replace his old and worn-down fence, which stood at six feet tall.

While building the wall, Mr Mason intentionally made it lower than the original fence – but too high for people to sit on, in case they toppled over the steep drop onto his rockery below.

But Northumberland County Council has told Mr Mason that someone had complained about the 65 foot long sandstone wall and asked him to take it down.

Mr Mason, who lives in the village of Greenhead, just a few miles from Hadrian’s Wall, said he did not know he needed planning permission.

The retired maths teacher and A-Level examiner said: ‘This summer we paid £12,000 for a beautiful new wall between our garden and the road.

‘It is lower than the rickety fence it replaced. Northumberland County Council has told us that they are now going to bulldoze it down unless we pay to have it lowered by eight inches.

‘The wooden fence was 1.8m high and was falling to bits, and it was liable to collapse in high winds.

‘We built the wall it to a height of 1.2m externally for health and safety reasons as internally there is a 2m drop into the garden, onto rocks.’

Mr Mason said he had ‘no idea’ the replacement would interfere with council regulations, and the pensioner doesn’t have the £12,000 to rebuild it.

He added: ‘Our wall is so much nicer than what was there before and safe. We are mortified. Ironic too that we live in what’s called Hadrian’s Wall Country.

‘Most of the fences and walls in the village are above 6ft in height but because they have stood for more than four years they are exempt from the planning laws. The whole thing is barmy.’

Mr Mason and his wife Sharon, 64, have had to agree to disconnect the wall from a Grade I listed bridge and will apply for retrospective planning permission to retain it.

A spokesperson from Northumberland County Council said: ‘We were made aware that a wall had been built at this property without planning permission.

‘On further inspection it was found to be attached to a listed bridge. For that reason it is not acceptable and we have asked that it is removed.’

Metro.co.uk has reached out to Northumberland County Council for further comment.

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