A COUPLE who spent two years and £2,000 battling to keep their garden fence have finally won a planning appeal.

Amanda and Tim McCarthy put up the two-metre garden fence along the boundary of their property in August 2005.

Shortly afterwards they received a note from a planning officer asking them to phone him. It marked the start of a two-year battle with Wychavon District Council's planning department.

"I have really been on edge about the whole thing," said Mr McCarthy, aged 51. "The doctors have had to give me medication to calm me down because I have felt so anxious.

"I could not go in the garden or look out of the windows because the thought of it made me feel so miserable.

"It made me feel very aware of how little freedom we have actually got at the hands of un-elected people. I have lost faith in the system."

When the couple bought the house in Worcester Road, Droitwich, in 2001, there were 50ft conifer trees along the boundary. The trees had caused structural damage to the house, and a condition of the McCarthy's mortgage was to remove them.

Without trees the couple were left with no privacy as their garden runs parallel to the road and pavement. They were concerned over the safety of their property and also discovered a requirement in the deeds of their house to "erect and forever thereafter to maintain a suitable and sufficient fence."

"We do not expect our garden to be private but you might as well be sitting in a lay-by next to the motorway," said Mr McCarthy.

Retrospective planning permission was refused by the council on the grounds the fence was "incongruous with the area."

The couple submitted another planning application proposing they cut holes at the bottom of the fence, plant shrubs and grow them through to landscape it, but that was also refused and an enforcement notice was served stating the couple must remove it or cut it down to one metre. So Mr and Mrs McCarthy, 48, employed a specialist lawyer and appealed the decision. They also collected 524 signatures of support for their fence.

Finally, in January 2008, the planning inspectorate overturned the council's decision.

The fence can stay with the condition the couple grow foliage though holes at the bottom. If they fail to comply, the fence could be removed.

Graeme Duerden, development control manager for the council, said: "The inspector agreed with the council, in that the sheer length of the fence made it appear stark and monotonous.

"However, the attempts by the owners to reduce this impact was, in the opinion of the inspector, beneficial.

"The council are naturally disappointed with this decision. However, we will ensure that the condition is complied with in its entirety."