# Forum Home Renovation Retaining Walls  council appoval for retaining/fence

## jags

Hi all
 I've  move my focus  from the house to the garden now and am in the process of doing the front garden .  lime stone retaining wall 900 high made for 1000 by 350 by 350 blocks  and clourbond fence in woodland grey with wood slats from 1200 high .what are peoples throught on getting council approval i am in two minds about doing it for the retaining wall .Its    on my land and nobody will see it .but figure i must for the fence .
Also i was thinking  of getting  it all done before i have the approval back  from the council do you think this is a bit risky i don't want  to wait  the 7 week just for the council to say yes .
thanks 
Rob

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## seamus1

Hi 
Nice to see a fellow Perth renovator, we put a limestone pillar fence in with double gates and white pickets out the front, were told by the guy that did it all that we didnt need council approval.  We are in City of Stirling tho so may be different to maylands, is your house heritage listed that may be different again.
Cheers Seamus

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## woodsie344

Sounds risky. So that's a 900 wall plus 1200 fence = 2.1m high overall? I'd be hesitant to go that high without approval. Not exactly going to go un-noticed. 
Give yourself half a chance at getting away with it by going down to the council office and get a free copy of the R-codes for your suburb. It will list all the 'rules and regulations' that they will want you to follow, including the setbacks from boundaries etc.
At the end of the day, council only wants it built right, which is understandable. 
Creep your garden shed 100mm closer the fence than allowed? Low risk.
Put a 2.1m wall right out the front and expect no one to notice? Not likely.

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## jags

Thank for the reply  
I went to Structeer yesterday to get the standard engineering approval form for limestone retaining walls .I  love that place payed $80 and all i have to do now is referance the form to my site drawings .  
i am going to get council approval but think  at this piont i will get the limestone wall done while i am waiting the six weeks for it to get aproved .The fence will be 1.8m from the street side and 2.6m from the house side so from the street the fence is standard hight .. And i have desided to set the land back from the boundary creating a garden bed of about 300 between the fence and the wall as i think this will look better that the fence siting on top of the wall . 
lets not start on the set back rules regarding sheds i love the fact that even though you own the land you are not aload to use it. Apparently the councils now uses google earth to do random checks on unapproved structures .
Rob

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