Storm-damaged fence: does it need repairing or replacing?

What should you do first when a storm brings a fence down?

Stay indoors until the wind has dropped, then check the fence from a safe distance. Keep away from any fallen cables, lay loose panels flat so the next gust cannot pick them up, keep children and pets out of the area, and take dated photos of the damage before you move anything else.

Once it is calm, work through the run one section at a time:

• If a cable is down across the garden or tangled in the fence, keep well back and call 105, the free number for reporting power cuts and damage to the local electricity network.
• Lift loose panels out of their posts if you can do it safely and lay them flat on the ground. An upright panel with nothing holding it acts like a sail.
• Prop a leaning section with timber battens so it cannot fall towards a path, a car or the house.
• If anything has landed in a neighbour's garden or on a footpath, let them know and clear it when it is safe.
• If a tree or large limb is on the fence, leave it and call a qualified tree surgeon to make it safe.

How can you tell if a fence needs replacing rather than repairing?

The posts tell you. A fence is only as strong as its posts, so walk the whole run and push each one. Sound, upright posts with a panel or a few boards missing point to a repair. Snapped posts, rot at ground level, or several posts moving or leaning point to replacing the fence.

Check every post, not only the ones next to the gap. A storm usually breaks the weakest point in a run, and the posts either side have taken the same load.

Age matters too. Fitting new panels to old posts that are already soft at the base often buys one winter. The next gale finds the same weakness.

Why do fence posts fail in a Somerset winter?

Most fences that blow down in Somerset were already weak at the base. Posts rot where wood meets wet ground, and winter rain keeps that point soaked for months. On the clay of the Levels the ground softens and holds water, so posts work loose. On exposed Mendip slopes and near the coast, the wind load is simply higher.

A closeboard or panel fence is a solid wall to the wind, and every gust ends up at the bottom of each post. Around Axbridge, Cheddar and Wedmore, three conditions do most of the damage:

• Wet clay on the Levels around Wedmore and Rooksbridge, where the ground stays waterlogged through winter and posts rock in soft soil.
• Exposed sites on the Mendip edge, where a fence takes the full force of a south-westerly with nothing to break it.
• Coastal wind towards Burnham-on-Sea and Weston-super-Mare, where gales come straight in off the Bristol Channel.

If your fence fell on one of these sites, the replacement should suit the ground and the exposure, not just copy what was there. On open land, post and rail with stock wire lets the wind through. Where you need privacy, closeboard on sound posts stands up better than lightweight panels.

Who is responsible for a storm-damaged boundary fence?

It depends on your deeds, not on which way the fence faces. HM Land Registry says the old rule that posts and rails sit on the owner's side has no legal basis. Check your title plan for T marks, talk to your neighbour, and agree before replacing a fence that may be shared.

Your title plan or deeds may show a T mark against a boundary, which normally says who owns or must maintain it. Where nobody can tell, HM Land Registry's guidance is that the fence is best treated as shared, and any replacement done with the neighbour's agreement. If you rent, report the damage to your landlord before you do anything.

Will home insurance pay for a storm-damaged fence?

Sometimes, but do not count on it. Many home insurance policies exclude fences and gates from storm cover, or only cover them when the house was damaged in the same storm. Read your policy wording, keep your dated photos, and ask your insurer before work starts.

Financial Ombudsman Service decisions show how often this comes up. In one case the ombudsman described a policy where:

Insurers also tend to refuse damage that built up over time, such as rot, rather than damage from one storm. If you think a claim was turned down unfairly, complain to your insurer and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Do you need planning permission to replace a fence?

Usually not. In England you can normally put up or replace a fence up to two metres high, or one metre next to a road used by vehicles, without planning permission. If the old fence was already taller, you can replace it at that height but not higher. Listed buildings and conservation areas can need permission.

The same page says that if an existing fence already exceeds those limits, its height must not be increased, and that in a conservation area you might need permission to take a fence down. If your home is listed, or a planning condition covers the boundary, check with Somerset Council before you start.

Can Mudgley Gardening & Fencing fix a storm-damaged fence?

We put up new fencing. If the posts are sound and only a panel or two has gone, ring and tell us about it and we will give you a straight answer. If the posts have failed along the run, we can quote for a new fence around Axbridge, Cheddar and Wedmore, and further across Somerset.

We are a family business near Axbridge, family-run since 2006. We put up closeboard privacy fencing, post and rail, half-round rail with stock wire, and field gates, including a 12 ft gate on one recent job. Quotes are free, emailed or given on the day.

We leave the site tidy, but we don't take old fencing away, so agree beforehand what happens to the old panels and posts.