IT MAY not be much to look at, but a stretch of scrubby trees and bushes could become, in the words of one county court judge, the most expensive hedge in Warwickshire.
St John’s College, Oxford, one of the biggest landowners in the country, is being taken to court by a retired businessman over a 180-yard stretch of ancient hedgerow that marks the boundary of their adjoining land, and dates from at least 1686.
The dispute is threatening to become one of near-Dickensian legal complexity and began when Anthony Bethell, decided to repair and restore the hedge at his own cost.
Before starting work, Mr Bethell, 74, wanted to ensure that he followed the precise boundary between his oneacre plot, set in the rolling Warwickshire countryside, and 1,200 acres of farmland owned by the college, which adjoin his property on two sides.
Mr Bethell feared that should the restored hedge not follow the established boundary line but stray over into St John’s land as a result of his repair and replanting work, he would be held liable and could be sued by the college for trespass.
But he claims he has now been forced to go to court after St John’s representatives refused to arrive at an agreement with him.
Mr Bethell said: “As it stands, this ancient hedge is in a poor state of repair and is an eyesore.
“I’m more than happy to pay for the work to restore the hedge and improve and safeguard the rural environment around me, but I need St John’s to agree the boundary line – and they just won’t sit down and discuss the issue face to face.
“They’ve ignored all my approaches and left me with no choice but to go to court.
“I want to do this properly. If I went ahead and did the work without establishing where precisely the boundary lies, I could end up creating all sorts of problems which would see the college coming after me in future.”
Mr Bethell commissioned a report on the hedge which found it was “neglected, sparse and misshapen” and recommended its restoration, using what is known as the Midlands Style of hedge laying traditional to the area.
This involves using hazel stakes that are bound with hazel or willow, then bordered by a ‘brush side’ of hawthorn or blackthorn.
The report states: “Well managed hedgerows are important for birds and other wildlife, forming safe and sheltered nesting areas as well as providing linear corridors for migrating birds.”
Both parties have already spent a total of more than £80,000 in legal fees, including the cost of a pre-trial hearing last month. By the time a full trial is held later this month to settle the dispute, the combined legal costs could amount to an estimated £150,000.
That prospect led Judge Gregory, sitting at Coventry Crown Court for the pre-trial hearing, to declare that the subject of the dispute could well become “the most expensive hedge in Warwickshire”.
He reportedly added that instead of pursuing the matter in court, both sides might as well “pile up £30,000 each in a field and light a huge bonfire” for all the good running up huge legal fees was likely to do them.
Indeed Mr Bethell – a former architect who still manages a property portfolio, providing an income for himself and his wife Eileen, 75 – says he is deeply conscious of the amount of money being wasted on the escalating dispute.
The couple run a charitable foundation to help deprived children in Warwickshire and the rest of the Midlands, as well as several wildlife projects in the area, and they have no shortage of potential projects to fund.
Furthermore, he points out, St John’s could pay for several student places with the amount it will cost to drag the matter through the courts.
“We could all save ourselves a lot of time and money if they would just sit down and talk about this simple matter of the boundary and any responsibilities over repair and maintenance,” he said.
The hedge, made up chiefly of mature hawthorn and blackthorn, was in all likelihood first planted in 1686, to divide two historic Warwickshire estates, the Wasperton and the Heathcote.
The estates merged around 1785, when they became the property of St John’s and the plot on which Mr Bethell’s home sits was first leased, then sold, by the college to a local owner.
The extent of the college’s property holdings – it owns more than 9,000 acres of land around England – has been a matter of comment.
According to popular legend one can walk from St John’s College in Oxford to St John’s College in Cambridge without ever stepping off soil belonging to the Oxford institution.
“Given how much land they own, you’d think they’d want to quickly settle a dispute over a tiny bit of hedge in Warwickshire,” said Mr Bethell.
Professor Andrew Parker, the bursar of St John’s College, said: “The legal action and court proceedings have been initiated by Mr Bethell.
“Despite attempts to settle the matter by meetings between professional advisers and by mediation, the college regrets that it is necessary to have the matter resolved by the courts.”