Clarity On Hedges That are both Deciduous & Evergreen

[GordonM]

Hi all,

 

 

The reason i'm writing a post is due to a disagreement with the neighbours regarding some trees and hedges in the garden. We're trying to solve it amicably but looking like it may go down the council route. I've asked the council for some guidance to help clarify how rulings would work in cases where a "hedge" is a mix of both Deciduous and Evergreen trees, and where the line would be drawn in cases where the hedge is quite long indeed. Unfortunately the council weren't able to give me a clear answer, so was hoping to get some advice on here aswell.

 

I've done a crude MS paint image of the layout of the trees and hedges in question to help demonstrate the situation. In this case all trees and hedges belong to Property 4, and Property 2 and 3 have an issue (understandably we think) with the height of the Laurels and Confiers that are above 2M and overhanging the boundary of the land. 

 

I appreciate the .gov guidance states that for it to be considered a 'high hedge', it [i] is formed wholly or predominantly by a line of two or more evergreens. [/i] But the bit we're unclear on is; what about any deciduous trees that are part of this hedge too. In this case it is very likely mostly deciduous if you treat the whole hedge as one and i'd imagine a complaint wouldn't be upheld in this case?

 

Or am I looking at this the wrong way? I.e is it possible for the complaint to be limited to the evergreen trees solely? (laurels and conifers) and leave the deciduous trees entirely excluded and untouched? If viewed this way then the 'hedge' is 100% evergreen.... and i'd imagine the complaint would be upheld?

 

 

What do people think? can anyone shed some light on this (no pun intended :D) or have been through something similar themselves?

 

 

Image below, for scale reference, the [i]depth [/i]of the Laurel is about 3Meters or so, 

 

cheers

Ged