Sophie Daly had sought permission to keep the fence which reaches 1.98m at its tallest point and exceeds the height of a ‘dwarf wall’Jonathon Hill News reporter, Tom Kershaw Content Editor and Twm Owen
11:06, 08 Nov 2025
(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
A Welsh family has been told to tear down a wooden fence dividing their front garden from a major road after their bid to keep it was rejected.
Mum Sophie Daly had applied for permission to retain the barrier, which stands 1.98m at its highest point and surpasses the height of a “dwarf wall”, alongside a garden gate she claimed “enhancing safety and security” for her child and the family’s large breed dog.
She maintained it offered better protection from noise and pollution from the bustling A48 near her Chepstow home, compared to the hedge it had replaced, for the detached two-storey house, reports Wales Online. The fence went up at the St Lawrence Road property between February and April this year, with Ms Daly lodging a retrospective application in August.
Her proposal won support from Paul Pavia, the Conservative councillor for the town’s Mount Pleasant ward, Chepstow Town Council, and the only neighbour who responded to Monmouthshire County Council’s planning department, describing themselves as a resident who “they enjoy seeing the new well-kept addition” and calling the fence “modern but respectable”
However, council planners disagreed, arguing that given the “prominent location” at an entrance to the town, the gate and fence “cause unacceptable harm to the visual amenity and open character of the area”, prompting them to recommend refusal. Planning officer Philip Thomas highlighted that the property is situated at a “visually prominent entrance to Chepstow”.
The planning committee members agreed and rejected the application, although three councillors opposed the refusal recommendation and one abstained.
(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Rachel Buckler, a Conservative councillor for Devauden, recognised the concerns raised but stated: “I do think it is detrimental and not in keeping and to my mind the hedge was better.”
Emma Bryn, an Independent member for Wyesham, voiced her concern that approving the fence could “set a precedent” with “a really negative effect on the environment of Chepstow”.
Cllr Pavia reminded the committee that neither the council’s highways department nor the Welsh Government, which oversees the A48, had objected, and argued that the fence offered “protection from one of Chepstow’s busiest roads”.
He further commented: “It is very near the infamous Highbeech roundabout. It is not a rural lane but a noisy, polluted urban corridor.”
The committee was also advised to reject the application due to insufficient “appropriate ecological mitigation or compensation” for the removed hedge.
Ms Dally’s application suggested providing a bird box and a “bug hotel” in the front garden.
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