A 67-year-old pensioner faces a battle with her local council after being ordered to remove a £5,000 fence she erected around her own home.
Susan Gibson, from Bonnyrigg, near Edinburgh, installed the 6ft fence around a grass verge next to her garden after the previous one was destroyed in a storm earlier this year.
But Midlothian Council has rejected her planning application for the new perimeter fence, which she paid for using money from her pension.
Gibson explained she built the new fence after becoming frustrated with members of the public using her garden as a shortcut and dogs fouling on her grass.
Gibson’s old fence had been destroyed by a storm
The council’s objection stems from Gibson extending the fence outside the bounds of her garden – though still within her property – while also raising its height from one metre to 1.8 metres.
“For 30 years I cut the grass and weeded the whole area,” Gibson told MailOnline.
“When the original fence blew down in January, I decided to build a fence taking in all the land that I own.”
Gibson said she was “really annoyed” as she believed there was no issue with fencing her own garden.
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Midlothian Council has rejected her planning application for the new perimeter fence
A council representative visited to measure the fence and made unusual requests about installing hedgehog holes, which caught Gibson off-guard.
“I had never heard of anything like that before,” she said. “And then she asked me what colour I was going to paint the fence because it might go against the council’s colour scheme. It’s nonsense.”
Gibson also noted that hedgehog holes would allow her small dog to escape.
According to neighbours, one resident complained that Gibson’s new fence blocked their view of the street.
The new fence extends far past the bounds of the previous one
“The man next door parks his van next to my fence, which is fine, that blocks the view of the street and my fence so I don’t understand what the problem is,” Gibson said.
“If I’m told the fence is to be taken down, I won’t be able to replace it with a smaller one as I have no savings. I paid £5,000 for this fence and the money used was from my pension,” she added.
An appeal hearing regarding the fence dispute is expected to take place next week.
A Midlothian Council spokesman confirmed that councillors will visit the site before making their final decision.
The outcome will determine whether Gibson can keep her newly installed fence – or if she will need to remove the structure that cost her £5,000 of pension savings.
