Creating Visual Block before Planning App

[Ferdinand]

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.

 

[A_L]

26 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

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.

 

2 - To get a reasonable screen to 2m in three years you are going to require at least 4x1.5m plants per metre at a cost comparable to your boarded fence.

3 - There are none that will do the job as quickly/cheaply

4 - Remember these are deciduous and there is not much solidity for many years

5 - To long (10yrs?) unless planting full almost full sized plants at considerable cost

Plant the slow grower on the outside and reclaim ground when you remove the leylandii (Possibly sell them on )

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, A_L said:

 

2 - To get a reasonable screen to 2m in three years you are going to require at least 4x1.5m plants per metre at a cost comparable to your boarded fence.

3 - There are none that will do the job as quickly/cheaply

4 - Remember these are deciduous and there is not much solidity for many years

5 - To long (10yrs?) unless planting full almost full sized plants at considerable cost

Plant the slow grower on the outside and reclaim ground when you remove the leylandii (Possibly sell them on )

 

Cheers @A_L

 

What do you think is realistic, and do you have any good alternative or modified suggestions?

 

Cheers

 

Ferdinand

[A_L]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

 

What do you think is realistic, and do you have any good alternative or modified suggestions?

 

No plant under 1.2m is going to get to 2.0m in three years, the first year is an establishment year and assume no/little growth. Leylandii is realistic if somewhat controversial. An alternative might be the native Beech (Fagus Sylvatica) grown as a hedge. Although technically deciduous the dead brown leaves stay on the plant until they are pushed off in spring by the new growth so provides good cover once established. As a hedging plant it is grown in large numbers and quite cheap, typically 4x1.5m plants per metre at around £30/m

[Temp]

You can buy 1.75-2m high Beech hedge plants which are great for hedging but have no leaves in winter.

 

https://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/beech_fagus_hedging.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvuDPBRDnARIsAGhuAmaXp-0T1iwo3DaPk2cEzymSMb1fJqYhk1i5oTQ8vJkk6mFvuLG9M-waAol4EALw_wcB

 

They appear to have a massive discount on bulk orders..

Edit: Sorry something wrong with the formatting below. My comments have been included in the quote..

 

 

Quote

 

 

Discounted pack of 50 x Beech (Fagus sylvatica) - 1.8/2.0m | 5 year old bare roots Pre order for delivery November 2017

 

Price:£378.99 (Excluding VAT at 20%)

 

 

Works out at £7.60 each plus VAT. They say 2-3 per meter.

 

I'd want to go see them before purchase.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2017 by Temp

[Jeremy Harris]

The tree nursery that we're using has some pretty large trees available, depending on how much you want to pay.  Typically 2.1 to 2.4m high Copper Beach trees are around £35.  Larger trees, like the 4.2 to 4.4 m high Western Red Cedar are a fair bit more expensive, at around £145.  Large (4m +) holly trees (not bushes) start at around "£200 or so, and you need two, male and female, for most species, in order to get berries, the exception being Ilex J C Van Tol, which is self-fertile, so always has berries.

 

One thing I learned the hard way is that bare root plants will often stay dormant through the first year after planting - ours did, then took off the following year.  The root balled planst took off straight away, so I would suggest going for root balled, or perhaps pot grown, for "instant" effect.

[Gone West]

6 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

3 - Are there alternatives to Lleylandii for the similar job? 

 

I planted a cherry laurel hedge at our last house. It's fast growing but unlike Lleylandii runs out of steam at about 4 or 5m. We kept ours at around 2.5 to 3m.

[Hecateh]

I was also going to suggest laurel.  I gave a friend some very small ones (less than a foot) about 4 years ago. that had grown following me removing some. and they are now about 5 ft.  Look better than leylandii. don't get out of hand in the same way and you can cut them back without killing off part of the tree

 

 

[ProDave]

We planted a Laurel hedge at the previous house, thinking it would be more manageable than Leylandii.

 

Well after 10 years, it has not reached 3 ft tall. As a hedge for privacy it is useless. It has only had a very minor trim to even it out, not because it is too big.

 

It either does not like our soil or our climate up here, so I could not recommend it.

 

It does tick the low maintenance box.

[Gone West]

12 hours ago, ProDave said:

Well after 10 years, it has not reached 3 ft tall.

 

Does much grow more that 3' up there?

[Ferdinand]

Thanks for the comments on this thread, @A_L, @Hecateh, @JSHarris, @PeterStarck, @Temp, @ProDave

 

I agree with most comments. 2m in 3 years is doubtless demanding, though something a little ambitious - say 1.4-1.6m in 4 years - may be achievable.

 

As to how I would do such a boundary, I think I might adapt the traditonal field hedge principle of "dig a ditch, build a bank, plant the hedge on the bank" but with a definite boundary feature as the location of the boundary on the traditional hedge-bank-ditch layout is less recognised than it used to be, like the "your fence is on the left (or is it right?)" rule of thumb.  

 

So I would probably do something like this, which should add to the height of the hedge and give it a boost. Would require a minidigger and perhaps a post-hole borer for any long length of boundary, but to me it does not look particularly difficult to do. I would go for the concrete + postcrete + strainer wires + chainlink type boundary fence here because I cannot guarantee a post + rail horse type fence to last more than about 12-15 years once it is inside a hedge. 

 

1 - Put in boundary feature - I am suggesting something like one of those 1950s concrete post + chainlink fences that are still in many of the hedges on our council estates. Cheap and last a long time.

2 - Dig a ditch / French drain inside the boundary to allow for hedge maintenance / growth. Elsewhere on the forum we know the potential value of a French drain round the boundary.

3 - Plant hedge on bank made from contents of ditch - may need top / sub soil managing, compost and careful choice of hedge species. Would very much help on some soils.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited November 10, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Hecateh]

Just had a thought - is there any mileage in advertising locally for anyone that wants some hedging removing.  They get their hedge removed free of charge and you get mature hedging free.  

I dug out some privet hedging and - leaving it to dry for burning it just started regrowing where I had left it, putting roots down into the soil.  Some laurels I removed didn't regrow were they were left but would have done if they had been replanted as they took a while to die off.  

 

[Temp]

Can you wait 3-4 years or would you rather put the application in sooner? 

 

Instant 1.7m beech hedging but £140  a meter even on special offer..

 

https://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Instant_Hedging__Trough_Grown__Pre-Clipped.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAuZXQBRDKARIsAMwpUeQfhwGR19eQtctH5r8i-HdDNQKbaXxV1Cgm5s6-7OJv08IH8lFGTggaAh8HEALw_wcB

 

 

If not tall enough and money no object you could plant a row of semi mature trees. They call it hedging in the sky...

 

https://www.best4hedging.co.uk/pleached-limes-p193