THERE was no joy for two Hilton neighbours at Fremantle council’s planning meeting this week, with their fences still failing to make the cut after a policy review.

The two Oldham Crescent residents had put up front fences – one timber pickets, the other thin aluminium bars – without council approval.

When it was picked up, they had to seek retrospective approval and hope councillors would give them some discretion, as the fences didn’t comply with the heritage precinct’s prescriptive local planning policy.

Both were too high, while the pickets were too close together at Number 30.

The councillors used the applications to trigger a review of the Hilton Garden Suburb Heritage Area policy, which found most residents supported the status quo.

There was a little leeway for homeowners when the updated policy was adopted, with fences raised 30cm to a maximum of 1.5 metres, while they’ll also be able to claim a precedent if fences across the road are taller.

But despite triggering the review, 30 and 32 Oldham were still deemed not to comply and will need to be either taken down or fixed; in the case of number 30 that could mean kicking out every other picket or spacing them a bit further apart.