Fencing, gates and driveways in South Birmingham

South Birmingham asks more questions before a spade goes in than any other part of the city. Seven of its conservation areas carry Article 4 Directions, the Bournville Village Trust has its own rules for much of Bournville, and the River Rea runs the length of the patch through streets that have flooded. At the same time, the bread-and-butter work is ordinary: back fences behind Kings Heath terraces, drives for Hall Green semis, patios for Northfield gardens.

Birmingham City Council covers nearly all of B13, B14, B28, B29, B30, B31 and B38. The exceptions are small: some addresses at the edges of B14 and B28 are in Solihull, and the southern fringe of B31 and B38 around Rubery and Hopwood is in Bromsgrove district, where Worcestershire County Council runs the roads.

Your enquiry goes from us to one local specialist working in this part of the city. They quote and do the job; Ground and Gate only makes the introduction.

Article 4 areas, the Bournville Estate and your front garden

Birmingham conservation areas in this patch, with those under an Article 4 Direction marked:

Birmingham's Article 4 guidance says permission is needed to remove or breach front boundary walls, fences and railings, and to take away gates. Paving over a front garden to make a hardstanding also needs permission, and the council says such schemes are likely to be refused unless the parking can be placed or screened so it does little harm to the street. In practice, a Moseley or Selly Park homeowner who wants to knock through a Victorian front wall for a car should expect a planning application and a real chance of refusal.

Bournville. Much of the Bournville Estate is under the Bournville Village Trust's Scheme of Management, which binds freeholders as well as tenants. The Trust's design guide expects front gardens, planted boundaries and the estate's open feel to be kept, and changes to boundaries or new hardstandings need the Trust's written consent, in addition to any planning permission. Ask the Trust before you ask for a quote.

Dropped kerbs in Birmingham and at the edges

Birmingham handles most of the patch. You apply online with a £125 inspection fee that is not refunded. Once the council agrees, its contractor builds the crossing and charges for the works plus £375 for administration. Before it does, you need a finished permeable hardstanding, and no crossing can be longer than 8.5 metres.

Busy routes such as the A435 Alcester Road, A441 Pershore Road and A38 Bristol Road are classified roads, and a new access onto one also needs planning permission. The council looks harder at visibility and bus stops on those roads.

Homes on the Solihull side of B14 and B28 use Solihull's scheme, where only the council's contractor builds the crossing. Bromsgrove-district addresses in B31 and B38 apply to Worcestershire County Council. The dropped kerb cost guide compares councils, and our how to get a dropped kerb guide sets out the order of work.

Terraces, villas and interwar semis

Kings Heath, Stirchley, Cotteridge and Selly Oak are mostly late-Victorian and Edwardian terraces. Fronts are shallow, often under 4 metres, so a drive is rarely possible, and the job is a new low wall, gate or tiled path instead. Rear access is by a tunnel entry shared between two houses or not at all, which means fence materials come through the house.

Moseley and Selly Park have large villas with deep front gardens, original walls, piers and railings. The planning rules above matter more than the price here.

Hall Green, Yardley Wood, Billesley, Kings Norton and Northfield are the interwar semi belt. Most have a side drive to a garage and a front lawn that can take a second car. Some pairs share the first few metres of drive.

Druids Heath, West Heath and Weoley Castle are post-war council estates with open-plan fronts and verges. Longbridge now has new-build streets on the former car works, with small allocated drives.

The Rea valley: flooding, clay and drainage

The River Rea rises near Rubery and runs north through Longbridge, Northfield, Kings Norton, Stirchley and Selly Park, joined by the Bourn Brook at Selly Oak. Parts of Selly Park and Stirchley flooded in 2016, and several streets on the valley floor sit in Environment Agency flood-risk zones. The River Cole also passes through Hall Green near Sarehole Mill.

The higher ground in Moseley, Kings Heath and Northfield is mostly mudstone clay with patches of glacial sand and gravel, so drainage can change from one end of a street to the other. On these plots, sustainable drainage is the sensible default: permeable block paving or resin-bound on an open-graded sub-base, or a channel that sends water to a planted bed, rather than more run-off into drains that already surcharge in storms. For a front drive over 5m², permeable construction also keeps you within permitted development, though in an Article 4 area the paving needs permission regardless. See the permeable paving guide and drainage and soakaways. A soakaway should be at least 5 metres from the house, which rules it out in many terrace fronts.

Front boundaries: brick, terracotta and blue coping

Moseley's villas have front walls in deep red brick, sometimes with moulded terracotta copings, cast iron railings set into a stone plinth, and gate piers with pyramid caps. The Kings Heath and Stirchley terraces have lower walls with Staffordshire blue half-round copings. Bournville uses its own warm red brick, with many boundaries formed by planting and low walls rather than fences. Victorian encaustic-tile front paths survive on many terraces and are worth keeping; a specialist can lift and relay a damaged path.

Walls under 1m cost £150–£250 per metre. If a front wall has to come down in an Article 4 area, get consent first; rebuilding like for like after storm damage is usually treated differently from removing one, but ask the council. Brick walls built on the line between two gardens are party fence walls, covered by the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.

Fencing and gates in South Birmingham

The terraces generate a steady flow of back-fence work: 10 to 20 metres of narrow boundary, often timber panels between long thin gardens. Because everything is carried through the house, specialists price in the extra handling. Lap panels cost £60–£90 per metre and featheredge £95–£135 at 1.8m; a single broken panel is £90–£140 to replace. See fence repair and the fence cost per metre guide.

In Hall Green and Northfield, semis with side drives often want a timber side gate (£250–£450) or a tall gate across the drive. In Moseley and Selly Park, front gates, railings and piers are subject to the Article 4 controls, so check before replacing them in a different style. Garden walls, side gates and trellis and screening cover the smaller jobs. For fence height limits next to roads, see how high can a garden fence be. More on the South Birmingham fencing and gates page.

Driveways and patios in South Birmingham

Hall Green, Yardley Wood and Kings Norton produce the most driveway enquiries: usually a two-car frontage of about 30m² replacing lawn or cracked concrete. Resin-bound at £75–£115 per m² is popular because it is permeable and suits the interwar houses; a two-car resin drive on grass usually costs £3,100–£4,980. Imprinted concrete runs £80–£120 per m² but is impermeable and needs drainage. See resin driveways, the driveway cost per m² guide and measuring your driveway.

Terrace owners are more likely to want a patio or path at the back. Sandstone at £110–£160 per m² is the usual choice; a mid-sized patio of about 22m² comes to £2,640–£3,920. Paths and steps suit the long, sloping Moseley gardens. See patios and paths and steps, or the South Birmingham driveways and patios page.