TV Eve loses ‘ ugly’ fence battle
ACTRESS Eve Myles has been told to take down an “ugly” fence she put up outside her house to block the view of prying fans.
The Broadchurch and Torchwood star was rapped by council bosses because the stark barrier does not fi t in with the conservation area where she lives.
BAFTA- winning Eve, 37, failed to ask for planning permission when she had the fence put up at her £ 750,000 family home in a leafy city suburb.
It sits on top of a low brick wall, forming a 7ft screen that blanks out the front of the property from curious bystanders on the road.
Neighbours in upmarket Whitchurch, Cardiff, have been angry since it fi rst appeared 18 months ago.
One resident said: “It’s a big ugly fence and it’s completely out of character for this area – it sticks out like a sore thumb.”
Eve, who shares the imposing seven- bed 1930s house with her actor husband Bradley Freegard and their young daughters Matilda and Siena, apparently did not realise she needed council permission at the time.
She applied for it retrospectively but was turned down.
A Cardiff Council spokesman said: “The fence required permission. It was considered to neither preserve nor enhance the character of the road’s conservation area and the owner of the property was notifi ed.”
Eve, who was John Barrowman’s sidekick Gwen Cooper in the sci- fi series Torchwood and played Claire Ripley in crime drama Broadchurch, has been given until June 10 to have the fence removed.
The council spokesman added that her representative had indicated the row would be resolved.
Eve fi rst met her husband at the National Youth Theatre in 1994 and they married in Italy three years ago. Speaking at the property, Mr Freegard said the couple had no comment.