Your problem is the heat generated by the fence and the pool and path. Anything you plant will have to be super tough. All plants loose and replace their leaves. Evergreen drop some leaves all the time and deciduous once a year. Adding pebbles will only reflect more heat and is becoming a dated look along with the cordylines. I'm not sure of your climate but a bullet proof evergreen plant that will cover the fence and take sun, drought and frost is the nandina domestica. Upright growing but no pruning required. There are new varieties of this plant but this one is just the right height to cover the fence. If you get cold weather in winter you will also get autumn colour. Will sucker from the bottom to fill the gap but not a garden thug. Has berries but because of the upright habit should fall into the garden bed. Sometimes called sacred bamboo but not a bamboo.

What's on the other side of the gate? Adding a step will require resurfacing for a distance back from the gate. Will this heavy gate self close? It may actually be easier and more effective to have a fixed panel and a smaller gate. Also consider that you will be able to have a gap of up to 100mm below the gate. This will allow it to swing up the slope. If you decide on the step, consider that the horizontal on your current gate may still render it illegal if it's less than 900mm off the ground and the gaps between the vertical timbers are greater than 10mm. If it's more than 900 off the ground it will be OK.

@ Ba Beltramo, I think this dilemma might be better solved if we we had pictures, as suggested by rahnch but if that is too difficult to provide, it would help if you supplied more information about exactly where this pool sits as opposed to the home and what size and shape it is including the lay of the land, pool fencing etc... I'm a little concerned about some of the suggestions that even talk of possibly destroying the pool although I have nothing personally against the suggestion providing you are well informed and take into account what will best suit you personally. After reading you dilemma heading again, "Re-design the space AFTER pool" I'm now assuming that the pool may already be gone and you have a huge hole where it once sat?? If that's the case, then it could be as simple as filling the hole in as you suggested yourself. If the pool is still in place and you are considering filling it in, then I would be concerned about your thoughts to effectively destroy it when I personally know just how costly is it to have a pool in the first place with many people who could only dream of having one!! At the end of the day, your property must work for you but I would hope you give it allot of thought before you do anything.

by the way, we had pebblecrete in our pool for 28 yrs. I think it was certainly very hardy ie. bits haven't come off. Algae can grow in the cement bits around the pebbles if you let the chemistry go off like after alot of rain. It was easy enough to scrape off and generally disappeared once I shocked the pool but it did seem to come back in the same spots again if I didn't keep close eye on the chemistry thereafter. The pebbles we had felt a bit roughish under foot, it's not a smooth surface. It was in no way uncomfortable to walk or sit on though. I would get it again, and still might if I don't like the sound of the glass....