High Hedges

[alliaria]

Hi all,

Does anyone know the legal situation of a hedge that does not overlap or is not parallel to a garden.

It seems to me that the action hedge height cannot be calculated.

Cheers,

Leigh

[daltontrees]

You'll find the answer here if an answer can be found.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hedge-height-and-light-loss

[daltontrees]

You're welcome...

 

Does anyone on Arbtalk havve any experience of the high hedges legislation being put into practice in the Isle of Man, particularly deciduous trees or individual trees. I am very curious to know how the seasonal nature of deciduous tree shade is measured and applied to the test of 'reasonable enjoyment' of a property. The Manx Guidance ducks the issue completely.

[skyhuck]

On the mainland disidouse trees are not covered by the legislation.

[daltontrees]

On the mainland disidouse trees are not covered by the legislation.

 

Aye but on the Isle of Man the Act was changed to include deciduous trees AND individual trees.

[daltontrees]

I am coming to appreciate very quickly that there may be few situations where the rules of thumb in the guidance can be relied upon without any further adjustment. As the document says "A simple technique cannot cover every situation...". I am trying to develop my technique with sky protractors so that as well as using the guidance I can check the results against the British Standard. Who knowsd how the scottish Act is going to produce guidance to deal with deciduous trees and shrubs in hedges? The 5%/25% rule is just about manageable for evergreens but it all goes to pot when deciduous hedges come into play.

[daltontrees]

A quick and hypothetical question for anyone out there who is with it on High Hedges.

 

What would happen if a Council got an application for the reduction of a high hedge and then realised that the hedge comprised trees of significant amenity value, and to protect them against reduction it wanted to TPO them?

[Gary Prentice]

TPO them and maybe rely on the Localism Act to defend their ability to do so.....

 

Maybe?

[daltontrees]

It might be the appropriate reaction, and might even be intra vires but if you had applied for a high hedge notice, wouldn't you be livid that the Council seemed to be abusing its position?.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Firstly the LA wouldn't get an application to reduce a high hegde. They would receive a high hedge complaint which, if the complainant has tried and failed to resolve the problem, and the hedge qualifies as one to which the Act applies, they must adjudicate on.

 

A hegde is a hedge, and not a row of trees, so if it was a row of trees the Act would not apply. If the trees were under threat and an amenity the LA could TPO them.

 

Of course trees do grow in hedges, so if there are trees that warrant protection growing within a hedge then they too could be TPO'd.

 

If a high hedge complaint has been received, the adjudication process undertaken, and a remedial notice issued to reduce the hedge to, lets say 2m, that very nice 30m oak within the hedge would also have to be reduced to 2m. Even if it had a TPO on it. The exemption in the TPO Regs, "in compliance with an Act of Parliament" would apply so no seperate TPO application required.

 

But and this is a very big but, the LA should have drafted the remedial notice in such away as to exclude the oak. E.g. Reduce height of hedge, but excluding the oak marked X on the attached plan, to 2m. They could exclude the oak whether or not it was TPO'd.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Esdward

 

I think it's +/- £400 fee for the person submitting the application (may vary by area) and must have been through mediation as a condition of a LA accepting the application ( that detail gained following an informal discussion with TO but not verified any further than that or proven by experience)