Tycoon cut down to size after growing 26ft hedge

A PROPERTY tycoon and his wife, who erected a hedge that grew 26ft high alongside a helipad at their Surrey home, have been defeated in a threeyear legal fight which turned their idyllic village into “a battlefield”.

One neighbour complained that the Leylandii hedge installed by Mark Dyer and his wife Clare blocked light from the front of his property and completely obscured the views he had previously enjoyed over the countryside.

In turn, Mr and Mrs Dyer accused a “menacing gang of neighbours” of harassment, following the building of the helipad in their field in Brook.

But a judge has now handed victory to neighbour Dr Andrew Cross by ruling that the height of the hedge must be substantially reduced.

Dismissing a challenge by Mrs Dyer to a planning inspector’s 2023 ruling, Judge Karen Walden-smith has ordered that the hedge be cut back to a height of about 16ft.

The decision has been welcomed by Dr Cross, 64, and his allies. Speaking outside court, he said: “My family and I are delighted with this decision, which comes almost three years after my high hedge complaint was lodged.

“The hedge is less than 15ft from my front boundary. The hedge towers above the chimney pots of my home, reducing light, and has a very overpowering effect on the entire frontage of my property.”

During a previous hearing, the High Court in London heard that the Dyers, both 59, moved to Brook 25 years ago, buying a sprawling country home, Cheynes, which now has a pool and tennis court.

But over the years they ruffled their neighbours’ feathers by submitting more than 50 planning applications to Guildford borough council in relation to Cheynes and two nearby cottages owned by Mrs Dyer.

In 2007, they clashed with planning officers after building a helipad in their field, which they were ordered to rip up.

However, the dispute with their neighbours continued and the case reached court in May last year when the Dyers asked for an injunction against Dr Cross and three others – to prevent them objecting to their planning proposals. The couple lost the case and were ordered to pay about £200,000 towards their neighbours’ legal costs.

Lamenting the situation between the neighbours, Judge Walden-smith said: “While it’s said that an English person’s home is their castle, here it’s become in some ways a battlefield.”