Part 2 Class A: fences, walls and the one metre limit

Fence height permitted development comes down to two numbers and one distinction. Next to a highway used by vehicular traffic, one metre. Everywhere else, two metres. The distinction is that a highway used by vehicles is not the same thing as any public right of way, so a front boundary facing a road is limited to a metre while a rear boundary backing onto a public footpath is not.

Those limits sit in Class A of Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015, which permits the erection, construction, maintenance, improvement or alteration of a gate, fence, wall or other means of enclosure. The class is short. The arguments about it are not.

What counts as a means of enclosure

The phrase covers gates, fences, walls and anything else erected to enclose land. Timber close-boarded fencing, brick walls, metal railings, gabion baskets and estate fencing all qualify.

Planting does not. A hedge is not development, so no planning permission is needed for a hedge of any height, though a neighbour can complain about an evergreen hedge over two metres under the separate high hedges scheme.

Two things sit awkwardly at the edge of the class. A retaining wall holding back a level difference is a structure doing a job beyond enclosure, and councils take different views on how it is measured and whether the class applies at all. And a gate across a driveway may be within Class A while the access it serves is a separate question under Class B of the same Part.

Temporary hoardings around a building site are dealt with elsewhere in the Order, and our note on Part 4 Class A and temporary construction buildings covers the site enclosures that go with them.

The one metre and two metre limits

The wording matters. Development is not permitted where the height of an enclosure erected adjacent to a highway used by vehicular traffic would exceed one metre above ground level. For any other enclosure, the limit is two metres.

Read the phrase carefully:

• Adjacent to a highway means running alongside it, which covers a front boundary and a flank boundary to a side road
• Used by vehicular traffic excludes a footpath, a bridleway or a pedestrian alley, so a rear boundary onto a public footpath takes the two metre limit
• The highway includes the verge and the pavement, so measure adjacency to the highway boundary rather than to the kerb line
• A gate in a front boundary is part of the enclosure, so a 1.8 metre gate in a 1 metre wall takes the whole thing outside the class

Where a front boundary needs to be higher than a metre, the answer is a planning application. These are small, low-cost applications and they are frequently approved where the design suits the street, particularly where the existing pattern already includes taller walls. A short Planning Statement setting out the street context, the materials and the reason for the height does most of the work.

Measuring height on sloping ground

Height is measured from ground level. Where the ground is not uniform, the Order's approach is to take the level of the highest part of the surface of the ground adjacent to the structure.

On a typical sloping street that means measuring from the higher side. A fence that reads as 1.8 metres from a neighbour's lower garden may be 2.3 metres from theirs and inside the class from yours, which is exactly the situation that produces enforcement complaints.

Practical approach on any site with a level change:

1. Take levels on both sides of the boundary before designing the fence
2. Set the fence height from the higher ground level
3. Where a retaining element is needed, draw it as a section and ask the council for a pre-application view
4. If in doubt, apply for a lawful development certificate under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990

Stepping a fence down a slope in panels is usually simpler than a raking top, because each panel can be measured against the ground immediately beneath it.

Listed buildings and the loss of the right

Class A does not permit development within the curtilage of a listed building, or to a boundary of a site containing a listed building. That is a wider exclusion than most owners expect. A fence at the far end of a large garden is still within the curtilage, and a boundary to a site that contains a listed building is caught even where the fence is nowhere near the building itself.

So on a listed property, every new boundary treatment needs planning permission, and listed building consent may be needed as well where the wall or railing is itself part of the listing or a curtilage structure. Removing a historic garden wall without consent is an offence, and old boundary walls are frequently curtilage-listed.

Conservation areas are treated differently from Part 1. Class A of Part 2 is not restricted by article 2(3) land in the way householder extensions are, so the one and two metre limits apply in a conservation area on the same terms. Our guide to article 2(3) land and permitted development in protected areas sets out where the restrictions do bite.

Article 4 directions on front boundaries

The exception in conservation areas is the article 4 direction. Councils use them on front boundary treatment where railings, low walls and gate piers are part of what the designation protects, and inside such a direction even a 0.9 metre wall needs planning permission.

Directions are local and their wording varies. Some cover only the removal of an existing boundary wall. Some cover any new enclosure. Some apply only to boundaries fronting a highway. Get the direction and its map from the council rather than relying on a summary, and check the date it took effect.

Where a direction applies, the application fee for the affected development is not charged. That is a point worth knowing, because it is easy to assume an application is not worth making.

Maintaining or improving an existing wall

The class permits maintenance, improvement and alteration as well as erection, with a limit of its own. Work to an existing enclosure is not permitted where the result would exceed the former height, or the height that would be allowed for a new structure in that position, whichever is greater.

That produces a useful result for owners of old walls. A front garden wall standing at 1.4 metres, built long before the current rules, can be repaired and rebuilt to 1.4 metres even though a new wall there would be limited to one metre. Raising it to 1.6 metres would need permission.

Evidence matters here. Photograph the wall before you touch it, and keep anything that establishes the previous height, because the burden of proof on an enforcement complaint sits with the owner.

Trellis, planting and what the height includes

Trellis fixed to the top of a fence forms part of the means of enclosure and counts towards the height. A two metre fence with 0.4 metres of trellis on top is a 2.4 metre structure and needs permission, whatever the fencing supplier told you.

Planting in front of the fence does not count, and a climbing plant growing over trellis does not change the structure's height. This is why a two metre fence with a hedge behind it is the reliable answer for privacy on a rear boundary.

Flats and maisonettes sit outside Part 1 of the Order entirely, and our note on why flats have no Part 1 rights explains that. Part 2 Class A applies more broadly, though a leaseholder still needs the landlord's consent and rarely controls the boundary in the first place.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to check whether a listing, a conservation area or an article 4 direction affects your boundary before you order the fencing.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. A lawful development certificate is the only formal way to confirm that works are lawful, so check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

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