A professional Father Christmas has become locked in a battle with his local council after his garden wall was deemed to be 80cm too tall.
Mark Roberts, from Gelligaer in Wales’s Caerphilly borough, is now accusing Caerphilly County Borough Council of building walls too high on its own properties after he received notice in 2021 that someone had complained the stone wall he had built at his home in Aneurin Bevan Avenue was too tall.
His wall was originally 6ft high and Mr Roberts claims he built it to replace an 8ft conifer tree in 2020, but if a wall or fence is more than a metre in height it requires planning permission, which he had not sought, Wales Online reports.
Following a lengthy planning battle which went to the national Welsh government’s Planning and Environmental Decisions Wales (PEDW) and lasted more than two years Mr Roberts begrudgingly agreed to reduce the height of his wall by 80cm rather than demolish it.
But weeks after he had sliced off the required amount Mr Roberts says he noticed a contractor for the council had built a wall “more than a metre in height” on its own land in the area.
Mr Roberts then noticed the council was in the process of rebuilding many walls and fences in the area and he claims many are more than a metre in height.
He decided to write to the council to bring up what he deemed to be wall hypocrisy from the local authority and then noticed it had submitted retrospective planning permission for all the erections he had pointed out in response.
A planning application submitted by the council was submitted on Monday, October 23, for walls in Aneurin Bevan Avenue, Dan-y-Graig Road, Gaer Place, Greenhill Place, Haman Place, Heol Cattwg, Heol Edward Lewis, Heol Y Waun, and St Cattwgs Avenue.
Mr Roberts said the changes ordered by the council had made his own wall “look terrible”.
He told WalesOnline: “This needs to be brought to the public’s attention. Caerphilly council has not gained planning permission before building any of these walls which are more than a metre in height.
“As I have reported a breach of planning they have now applied for planning permission which would be retrospective as most of the walls are completed. It looks like there is one rule for the council and another for me.
“If these walls get approved it’s unbelievable and should be taken to court.”
Mr Roberts had originally spent more than £5,000 on his wall which he said made his home “nice and private” before the council spat.
He added: “There are so many walls around here over a metre.
“I feel I’ve been targeted with it all really and I’ve been unfairly treated. I tried to make the house look nice and I wasn’t hurting anyone. I’m not even allowed to put a fence on the wall. I can’t put a fence on it but I can grow a tall hedge. It’s ridiculous.”
A spokesman for Caerphilly council said it would be investigating the matter.
He said: “The local planning authority is currently investigating a planning enforcement complaint relating to the erection of boundary walls at Gelligaer and in parallel is also in the process of considering an application for retention and completion of walls in the same area.”
