‘Anti-social’ hedges spark complaints

NEARLY 50 complaints have been filed by Derbyshire residents about their neighbours’ overgrown hedges in the past three years, a study has shown.

The improper maintenance of a hedge you own is dubbed by UK law as a form of anti-social behaviour, and on nearly 50 occasions in the past three years, Derbyshire residents have felt so aggrieved by their neighbours’ overgrown hedges they felt it warranted a formal complaint to their local council.

Freedom of Information requests to all the county councils show that 47 high hedge complaints were filed in the past three years

Of these, just eight were upheld and eight led to formal remedial notices being served on the owners, ordering them to trim or tame their hedges immediately. This, in turn, netted councils £3,140. In the Derbyshire Dales there were two complaints in 2018, and six in 2020, but south Derbyshire is the district which is home to the lion’s share of complaints - 30 - and upheld cases (four) and served notices (four).

Meanwhile, no formal complaints have been made by residents about their neighbours’ hedges in Amber Valley or Derby in the past three years.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, says: “The right hedge can be an ideal garden boundary, but the wrong hedge may bring problems.

“Part eight of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 allows local councils to deal with complaints about high hedges whose area contains the land on which the hedge is situated.

“When councils are determining a complaint they must first decide whether the height of the high hedge is having an adverse effect on a neighbour’s enjoyment of their home and/or its garden or yard.

“If it is, then councils can order the owner of a high hedge to take action to put right the problem and stop it from happening again.

“The legislation also allows councils to set and charge fees for handling these complaints.”

Councils cannot order the removal of hedges involved in disputes, take any action “that could result in the hedge’s death or destruction” or order a hedge to be trimmed to less than two metres above ground level.

Local authorities can allow more time for a hedge to be trimmed back to protect birds nesting in the foliage.