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Thanet District Council fence-height rules, in plain English

What counts as permitted development on a Margate boundary, when Thanet DC planning permission kicks in, and the conservation-area catch on Old Town streets.

The permitted-development baseline

Under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015 (as amended), you can put up a fence, wall or gate on your property up to certain heights without applying to Thanet District Council for planning permission. The rules are:

• Rear and side boundaries: up to 2 metres high.
• Front boundary adjoining a highway (road, footpath, byway): up to 1 metre high.
• Between a garden and a shared driveway: counts as rear/side, so 2m applies.

Height is measured from ground level on the higher side of the fence. On a sloping garden, the fence has to be under the limit at the highest point along its run.

When Thanet DC planning permission kicks in

You need to apply to Thanet DC for planning permission when:

• You want a fence over 2m on a rear or side boundary, or over 1m on a front boundary onto a highway.
• Your property is in a conservation area (see below).
• Your property is listed, or an Article 4 direction applies to your address.
• The fence forms a boundary to a road that is not directly bordering the property (curtilage rules).

Applications go through the Thanet DC planning portal. Application fee for a householder fence application is currently £258. Turnaround is 8 weeks for a standard determination.

The conservation-area catch: Margate Old Town

Margate Old Town, centred on the harbour and running back through Market Place and Duke Street, is a conservation area administered by Thanet DC. Being in a conservation area does not automatically require planning permission for a fence, but Article 4 directions on specific streets remove permitted-development rights for fence work that would be permitted elsewhere in Thanet.

The practical implication: if your address is in Old Town and you want to change a front boundary, ring Thanet DC planning before you order the fence. The check is free and takes 10 minutes. Ordering a 1m timber picket for a front garden and then finding out you needed an application because Article 4 covers your street is a bad Tuesday.

Height limits for listed properties

Listed buildings need Listed Building Consent for anything that alters the character of a listed elevation, including boundary work. Consent goes through Thanet DC conservation team. Sympathetic materials (traditional picket, rendered wall) are typically approved without much fuss; modern overlap panels and closeboard on visible frontages are typically not. Rear boundaries hidden from public view have more flexibility.

The visibility test on driveways

Thanet DC applies a highways-visibility test on front-boundary fencing near a driveway exit. A tall solid fence near a driveway that blocks the driver's view of oncoming pedestrians or traffic can be rejected on highways safety grounds even under permitted development. The rule of thumb: within 2m of a driveway exit, keep fence height under 1m and prefer see-through picket or open-topped design.

Party fence rules

The Party Wall Act 1996 does not usually apply to a garden fence (it applies to walls, and to structures over 2m on a boundary). But the underlying good-practice is the same: if the fence is on the boundary and shared with a neighbour, agree who is paying and which side is which face before ordering. If the fence is entirely on your land set back a few inches from the boundary, you can put it up without formal neighbour consent.

When in doubt, ring Thanet DC

The Thanet DC planning duty desk answers straightforward permitted-development questions on the phone within a working day. The number is on the Thanet DC website. A 10-minute call before you commit to a fence spec saves the risk of a retrospective application later.