Can I build a garden fence next to manhole cover?

[jmre22]

Bought my house a few months ago and want to put a small fence around my front garden.

Heres a picture, the purple dots are where I'd like the fence.

https://imgur.com/a/jfDb5WW

I only want a small picket fence around 400mm high.
However I have a couple of drains/manhole cover things in my garden. You can see in the picture there is one to the right of the grass, and one under the wheelie bin.

Is this gonna prevent me from putting in a fence?

If a 400mm picket fence isn't possible does anyone have any suggestions on what I could do as an alternative edging / border around my garden ?

Any help is appreciated

 

[johnny2007]

Go ahead, manholes will still be accessible.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Is this gonna prevent me from putting in a fence?

Make the fence easily removable, where the manhole is located.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Why? As long as the drain and it's structure is not disturbed.

 

[jmre22]

Go ahead, manholes will still be accessible.

Make the fence easily removable, where the manhole is located.

Why? As long as the drain and it's structure is not disturbed.

Yeah the manholes will still be accessible but I was worried that I won't be able to dig that close to the manhole as I thought it would be concrete around it.

I'm not sure the soil is deep enough for a fence however. When I stook a plastic spike in the ground it would only go around 100mm deep. If I wanted my fence posts to be 400mm above ground level, how deep would I need to bury them as a minimum? I plan on have a fence post every 2 meters then putting some battens in between the posts, then nailing my picket planks to the battens. Does this sound reasonable? (New to this).

 

[johnny2007]

You need to inspect your soil.
Dig a test hole and see what's under there, then you can plan on how to erect your fence.
With the manhole it's easy, just position the posts so that they're nowhere near it.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'm not sure the soil is deep enough for a fence however. When I stook a plastic spike in the ground it would only go around 100mm deep. If I wanted my fence posts to be 400mm above ground level, how deep would I need to bury them as a minimum? I plan on have a fence post every 2 meters then putting some battens in between the posts, then nailing my picket planks to the battens. Does this sound reasonable? (New to this).

100mm before it hit - what to stop it? Just space the posts, so they straddle either side of the manholes. Posts need to be set 150 to 200mm deep, for 400mm - depending on the subsoil and in postcrete. You can buy, metal brackets to sink in the ground, so the timber is fixed to them and above ground - that will help avoid the posts rotting at the base. Add a cap to the top, to shed water from the top of the post, or at least cut the top at a 45 degree angle.

 

[big-all]

just make sure your allowed a fence or other division
if other similar properties around you have a similar front lawn, scenario and no division then maybe a covenant on the deeds preventing what you wish
if you can, would suggest a picket fence with posts i would suggest maybe 3-4ft on the curve would look better then around 5 ft on straits to give decent support over span
all depends on how light the structure is rails less than 25x50 light structure so as my suggestion above a bit greater [22x76mm ]then perhaps 20-30% longer spans

 

[Odds]

How about planting a row of hedge and maintaining it at a height of 40cm?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

There will (or should) be a concrete haunch supporting the kerbstone and beneath that the pavement base so your post holes will need to be set back a little away form the kerbstone anyway.