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A pensioner has shared her despair after a 6ft fence was erected outside her house, reducing daylight coming through her living room window and “destroying the view”. 

Sheila Parkinson, 75, of Grove Crescent, claims that since the fence was put up in October by a neighbour, when she sits on her sofa she “can’t see anything outside” except for the tops of a few houses and is forced to go outside onto her drive to see down her street.

Speaking to GrimsbyLive, she said: “If I didn’t have friends and my daughter supporting me I think I would’ve gone mad. You would’ve gone mad in this house, and with it getting colder now you can’t go out as much.

“When you sit down on the sofa and you look out the window, you can’t see anything. I’m 75 and I’m on my own a lot of the time and it’s horrible. I’m having to keep the light on a lot of the time and I don’t like it because it’s using my electricity and it will cost me.

“I usually go out because I think, ‘I can’t sit here all day’. I usually go for a walk or to town or something like that because otherwise I’d go mad. I don’t mind there being a big fence, but just not right in front of my window. You can see the tops of the houses but that’s it. I have to go outside onto my drive to see down the street.”

Sheila said she has contacted North East Lincolnshire Council about the situation three times and has been told each time that someone will attend her property to speak to her, but claims that nobody has been.

“I’ve been on to the Council day and night but nothing is being done – they said they’ll send someone out but they never came”, she said.

In response, a spokesperson for North East Lincolnshire Council’s delivery partner EQUANS said that “due to circumstances beyond [their] control” an initial planned visit had to be delayed.

They said: “This issue was first reported to our planning team on October 24 this year and there has already been discussions between the reporter of the works and the enforcement officer. Unfortunately, due to circumstances that were beyond our control, an initial planned visit had to be delayed.

“However, that has now been resolved and the appropriate officer has made contact again and a replanned visit has been arranged.”

According to national planning permission guidelines, householders are not required to apply for planning permission if a fence that is not next to a highway does not exceed two metres in height. Therefore, the fence is not believed to be in breach of these guidelines.

Prior to publication Sheila’s neighbour was contacted by Grimsby Live but did not wish to comment on the matter.

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