Lichfield and Tamworth share a postcode patch and a highway authority, and not much else. Lichfield is a cathedral city with a Georgian core, walled town gardens and a ring of later estates on its eastern and southern sides. Tamworth grew fast from the 1960s as a Birmingham overspill town, so most of its streets are estate housing of the same age: open-plan front lawns, garages set back on shared runs, and back fences that have been replaced two or three times already. The work that comes through from here tracks that split closely.
Planning sits with the district and borough. WS13 and WS14 are Lichfield District Council. B77 and B79 are mostly Tamworth Borough, with fringes in Lichfield District and North Warwickshire. B78 is mixed: Fazeley, Bonehill, Hopwas and Drayton Bassett answer to Lichfield District, while Dordon and Wood End are North Warwickshire, where Warwickshire County Council rather than Staffordshire runs the roads. For everyone on the Staffordshire side, though, the highway authority is Staffordshire County Council, and that is who decides on a dropped kerb.
Ground and Gate does not do the work. We pass your enquiry to one local specialist who covers this patch, and they measure up and agree a fixed price with you.
Conservation areas and Article 4 directions
Lichfield District's conservation areas in these postcodes include Lichfield City, Whittington, Shenstone, Wall, Hopwas, Fazeley and Bonehill and Drayton Bassett. The City, Whittington and Wigginton areas carry Article 4 directions, which is where front gardens get caught out: under those directions, taking down a front wall or railings, or paving over the front, can need planning permission even though it would be permitted development on an ordinary street.
Tamworth Borough has seven conservation areas, among them Tamworth Town, Albert Road / Victoria Street, Hospital Street, Amington Green and Amington Hall Estate, with Wilnecote and Dosthill too. Most carry Article 4 directions, so a homeowner on Albert Road looking to open up a front wall for parking should speak to the borough's planners before booking anything.
Outside those areas, the national rules apply as normal: a front wall or fence up to 1m next to a road, 2m elsewhere, and permeable surfacing for front gardens over 5m².
Houses and plots across the patch
Lichfield's centre — Beacon Street, Gaia Lane, the streets off Stowe Pool — is Georgian and Victorian brick with small walled rear yards, many with no side access. A fence or patio job there is priced on how materials get in, not on how many metres are involved.
Boley Park, Darwin Park and Streethay are 1980s to 2000s estates with tight rear gardens, lap-panel boundaries on timber posts, and tarmac or block drives the builder laid thin. Resurfacing and panel replacement dominate.
Whittington, Shenstone, Wall and Hopwas have larger plots, older brick outbuildings, and field-edge boundaries where post and rail meets a new featheredge line.
Tamworth's overspill estates — Stonydelph, Belgrave, Glascote, Amington, Wilnecote — have open-plan fronts that owners now want to enclose or convert to parking, and rear gardens backing onto footpaths and greens. Kettlebrook, Bolehall and the streets near the castle are older terraces with entries and long narrow gardens.
Ground conditions
Much of the patch sits on Mercia Mudstone, a red clay-rich rock that weathers to sticky, slow-draining soil and shrinks and swells with the seasons. Posts need proper depth and concrete, and a driveway sub-base on this ground needs a membrane and full compaction or it will rut. Around Lichfield the mudstone gives way in places to sandstone and glacial sand and gravel, which drains far better and makes soakaways realistic. A percolation test on the day is the only way to know which you have.
Front walls, boundaries and local materials
Lichfield's older streets use soft red brick with blue-brick copings, and the Close and cathedral precinct show the local red sandstone. A new front wall in the conservation area should match both: an orange-red machine brick looks wrong beside a two-hundred-year-old wall, and the planners notice. In Tamworth the estate fronts are mostly buff or red wirecut brick, or no wall at all.
Staffordshire blue brick copings and blue engineering-brick piers are a sensible choice for gate piers across the patch because they shrug off frost and road salt. Garden walls under 1m cost around £150–£250 per metre; anything taller or retaining ground goes to a site visit. See garden walls.
Timber fences are not covered by the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, but a shared masonry wall between terraces in Lichfield's centre can be, so an alteration may need notice to your neighbour. Our who owns the fence guide covers the deeds and the T-marks.
Fencing and gates in Lichfield & Tamworth
On the Tamworth estates the steady request is a replacement for the builder's original lap panels. Overlap panels run at roughly £60–£90 a metre at 1.8m; featheredge, which lasts better on an exposed rear boundary, is £95–£135. A 15m featheredge run with concrete posts and the old fence taken away comes to about £1,700–£2,400. See new fence and the fence cost per metre guide.
Where a rear garden backs onto a footpath or green in Stonydelph or Amington, concrete posts and gravel boards are worth the extra: kicked panels and soft ground are what fail first. For a front garden being enclosed on an open-plan estate, check your deeds for a covenant before anything goes up, and keep it under 1m next to the road; see fence next to a road.
In Lichfield's walled yards, a side gate is often the whole job, at £250–£450 in timber or £400–£700 in metal. Pairs of driveway gates on the village plots in Whittington and Shenstone run £900–£1,800 in timber; electric gates are always priced after a site visit.
For damaged panels after a storm, fence repair starts from £400. See the Lichfield and Tamworth fencing page.
Local questions
Do I apply to Tamworth Borough or Staffordshire for a dropped kerb?
Staffordshire County Council, which is the highway authority for both Tamworth and Lichfield. The borough or district only comes in if planning permission is needed, which is mainly for houses on A, B or C roads, listed buildings, and some conservation area properties. Dordon and Wood End in B78 apply to Warwickshire instead.
Can I take down my front wall in Lichfield city centre?
Possibly not without permission. The Lichfield City conservation area has an Article 4 direction, and demolishing a boundary wall in a conservation area can need consent on its own account. Ask Lichfield District's conservation officer before booking the work, and bring photos of the wall and the street.
Will a soakaway work on my Tamworth estate?
It depends on the ground. Much of the town sits on Mercia Mudstone clay, which drains slowly, so a soakaway can fill and stay full. Resin-bound or permeable block paving over a proper sub-base may be the better route; the specialist can do a simple percolation test before pricing.