FAMILIES living on a new Devizes housing estate were left angry and upset when they received letters from Wiltshire Council demanding they remove willow screening from their back gardens.

Keith and Ruth Patrak were so distraught by the threat to their security and privacy on the estate near Drews Pond built by Curo Homes they said they would move if they were forced to remove the willow hurdles they had put at the side and end of their garden in Wordsworth Way.

The couple said they were given no warning of the planning restriction by the developer when they bought their house in January after a flying visit from their previous home in France or when they moved in to the house in March.

Mrs Patrak said: "When we received the letter we were completely shocked. We put up the screening, which isn't a permanent fixture, when we realised how little privacy we got from the railings.

"Our gardens are small and if you are sitting on the sofa people using the footpath just outside our back gardens people can look straight in to our living room.

"It is used all the time by dog walkers, people on bikes and people running. If we have to remove the screening I could not continue to live here."

She was also worried about the safety of their three cats as dogs would easily be able to jump through the railings.

She said other neighbours, who have put up screening to keep their young children safe in their back gardens, were also also unhappy.

But this week after Curo and Wiltshire Council was contacted by the Gazette it appears a compromise has been reached.

Mr Patrak said: " I had an e-mail from the planning enforcement officer Steven Jenkins, which stated that the application officer will allow us to plant a dense hedge inside the estate railings or we can also cut down our willow hurdles to comply with the approved height of the metal fence. We will have to see if we can live with it at the lower height but at least we will have some level of security."

A spokesman for Curo said: "We are liaising with residents at our Drew’s Meadow development in Devizes and working to design a solution that addresses the privacy of residents’ gardens within the approved planning guidelines. We will consult residents on the option proposed by our architects and engineers and agree a way forward.”

A spokesman for Wiltshire Council said: "“Due to the proximity of the properties to a grade II listed building, the willow fencing that has been put up by some residents is considered to be inappropriate and significantly diminishes the open environment that the approved scheme sought to maintain.

“As this fencing has been put up without planning consent, we have written to the residents of five properties to politely request that they remove it. If the residents of these properties wish to speak to us about this and find out more information we are happy to discuss this with them.”