Ok i have a hawthorn hedge, its about 9ft high 23m long and very see through, its in really bad condition at bottom(bare, weeds etc) i bought stuff to build a fence and was going to rip it out, problem is i have bad neighbours across the street and hedge blocks them off, my wife now wants me to put the new two meter high fence in the inside and leave the hedge up, is this a good idea? what would happen to the hedge? would it die off?

thanks mark