Row after gran left feeling she's in 'prison' due to neighbour's fence

Row after grandmother’s next door neighbour builds ‘huge’ fence outside home that ‘blocks her view’ and makes her feel like she’s ‘living in prison’

• Sharon and John Boltwood said they ‘couldn’t believe their eyes’

A woman has been left in tears after her next door neighbour erected a huge fence that she and her husband say ‘leaves them feeling like they are living in prison’.

Sharon and John Boltwood who have lived on the Walpole estate, Crosland Moor, for more than 40 years, including 25 years at their current address, say they ‘couldn’t believe it’ when they saw what had been constructed.

Sharon, a 59-year-old grandmother, said: ‘When I saw what she had done I thought: ‘Oh, my God. I was looking at the height of it in complete disbelief. I just couldn’t believe my eyes.

‘I said to her: ‘Can you do something about the height of it, please? She said: ‘Why?’ I said it is blocking our view.

‘I suffer from depression and I have got no friends and rarely go out apart from shopping trips so not being able to see out of our front window as we used to be able to do affects me deeply. I can’t see John’s sister Teresa’s house across the way anymore.

Sharon and John Boltwood say the fence has left them feeling as though they are ‘in prison’

The neighbour said she had decided to erect the fence to protect the safety of her two-year-old son who she feared was now old enough to run out onto the road

A Kirklees Council spokeswoman told MailOnline they had not received any contact about this issue yet

‘John and I are going to Kirklees Council on Tuesday morning to see if there is anything we can do about it and whether she has breached any planning regulations.’ 

John, a 65-year-old, retired builder, added: ‘I daren’t speak to her because I worry that I would lose my head.

‘It’s like living in Armley – we can’t see anything. It’s a shame because we used to be good neighbours and we’ve never had any problem with her and her mother before. She was very kind and brought us around some chicken that they had cooked, that sort of thing.’

The 43-year-old neighbour who asked not to be named and who owns the property with her mother said she had decided to erect the fence to protect the safety of her two-year-old son who she feared was now old enough to run out onto the road. 

She also brushed away tears, saying: ‘As far I was concerned everything was OK.

‘We are good neighbours to them and the fact that they have complained in this way is really upsetting. We checked with the people who installed it and that it was OK.

Sharon Boltwood burst into tears as she spoke about the issue 

‘It’s strange because in the past they have had horses and chickens at the back which created a problem with rats but we never complained to them about it. We have been really, really good neighbours to them.

‘I would just like to add that we had many quotes for the fence, so it wouldn’t have been a shock that a fence was getting put up. Both neighbours were told on each side, and neither asked about the height.

‘I’m not even angry about what they have done, I am just so upset, we have been so close all these years. We have never had any problems with anything.

‘And their fence around the back is higher than ours. No complaint was made by us. 

‘When we found this person to put the fence, they look to see which height is acceptable for our area, less than two metres according to Kirklees’ website, local constraints on the property [and] planning permission.’

A Kirklees Council spokeswoman told MailOnline they had not received any contact about this issue yet.

‘Ms. Boltwood is welcome to contact our planning team about her concerns, and we will look into the issue,’ she added. 

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