Fencing and gates 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.

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.

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.