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This is a spinoff from Jeremy's privacy thread. What are the best methods of creating a visual block quickly to disarm some potential "overlooking" objections from ground floor windows into neighbouring gardens, if it needs to look permanent by the time Planning is applied for? 1 - The classic would be a hard landscape feature - say a brick wall, or a 2m closeboard fence, which can then be conditioned to remain. Problem: pricey at approximately £40-£70+ per metre run for the fence and fitting, or perhaps at least £150-£200 per metre run for a decent 2m wall. 2 - Tightly cropped Lleyandii 2m hedge. How long? Does it take about 3 years to grow and be dense clipped to 2m from planting if planted at a tight staggered spacing in a double row? 3 - Are there alternatives to Lleylandii for the similar job? 4 - A fedge? (ie Living fence). These tend to be made from willow and later become thugs unless kept under constant tight control, 5 - Thinking around the box, plant something a little slower and propose a condition that first occupation not be allowed until a dense 2m visual barrier exists? That does not completely disarm the objection. I think my *strategy* would be a quick grower as above, but plan to remove it later and plant something else in front which will be more attractive. The con of that approach is the effective loss of garden when the initial block hedge us removed. Has anyone done this? Thoughts and comments are welcome.