‘Dangerous’ fencing rejected by council

A planning application for a high, white fence and gates to be placed around a property in Hawthorne Avenue, Thame, has failed to be acceptable to Thame Town Council, after a neighbour, who is blind, told the council that it would create a danger for him and other road users.

12, Hawthorn Avenue, Thame (Courtesy of Google 2009)

Mr R Gerhart, who lives at 10, Hawthorne Avenue, Thame, explained that No. 12, where the fence and electric gates would be placed, is on a corner and where he crosses the road from his own home. Any car would have to be at least a bonnet’s length out of the gates before being able to see anything, he explained.

Mrs Gerhart added that the proposal would cut out light from their property, the proposed gates being only 10″ from her bedroom window. She added that enclosing the frontage of No.12 with a fence would ‘spoil a lovely, open-plan estate.”

There had been 23 letters of objection to the planning proposal, and several neighbours and supporters in the public gallery clapped when Mr Gerhart had finished speaking.

The town council’s Planning committee gave its reasons for recommending refusal as ‘Unneighbourly’, and ‘Not in keeping with the character of the area’.

You can read the Planning Committee’s other decisions from Tuesday’s meeting (26/05), here: Recommendations Issue 29.5.15