A FENCE has been dubbed  undesirable by city planning  officers — despite residents  claiming it enhances their  street.

The fence, owned by  Stephen McConnell, of  Athelstan Road, was put up  to replace a barrier of  forsythia which had become  woody and unsightly.

It is made of natural materials, woven from chestnut, oak and hazel, and is no  higher than the fence it replaced. But it has been refused retrospective planing  permission — and now Mr  McConnell is to appeal in a  bid to keep the fence.

The 47-year-old teacher  told the Echo: “I applied for  an allotment three years ago  but because of the waiting  list I decided to have a vegetable plot in my front garden.

“It gets a lot of admiration  from people and getting rid  of the forsythia has given me  more space.

“Also I need a barrier as  people walking this way  from the centre of town  have  in the past thrown litter into  the garden.

“The city council has said  that they think the fence is  inappropriate for the area —  but if you look around there  are a variety of styles and we  are not in a conservation  area.”

Mr McConnell has the  backing of his neighbour  Clare Blake. She said: “We  think the fence is very suitable for the area. The  surgery just down the road  has a sedum roof so both  have an eco-theme.

 “Also Stephen’s fence is  lower than some others in  the area, where there is no  uniformity anyway.”

Derek Rigby, also a neighbour, thinks  people are taking to the hedge because it is  different.

Mr McConnell also has the  support of his local councillor, Richard Branston. He  said: “There were 15 letters  of support sent to the council  about the fence and there  have been no objections.

“I understand that the  three councillors who conducted the site visit viewed  the application favourably.

 “I can’t understand why  this was not decided by the  full planning committee,  which is the usual procedure  and wonder if this is the first  casualty of the council’s new  guidelines aimed at reducing the time allowed for public speaking at meetings —  this was decided by officers  under delegated powers.”

Planning officers objected  to the height, position and  choice of materials, saying  that it was “unsympathetic,  incongruous and visually intrusive” and would set an  “undesirable precedent”.

Mike Gardner, who built  the fence, said that many  organisations, including the  Woodland Trust and Devon  County Council, actively  promote the management of  hazel woodlands to produce  wattle hazel hurdle fencing.