This would be a shame!

[mendiplogs]

A fiver says Steve was joking about starting a petition.

 

Why doesn't Mendiplogs start one as it was his idea?

 

HI Paul I will mate thanks Jon

[oslac]

Hedge looks great and a fantastic feature for the village but unless it is formally protected in some way (can't see that as a possibility) then the hedge is just that a hedge and it appears to be trespassing onto someone else's land and like many a folk on this forum would agree, if it trespasses, then remove the trespass.

 

Perhaps the owner of the hedgerow should have foreseen that his hedge would cause a problem and maybe he should have managed it so that it wouldn't trespass over the public footpath. Is it not likely that once the hedge is reduced to the boundary line that in a couple of years it will have greened up and no-one would be any the wiser.

 

So now look at it from the council's viewpoint. They have had a legitimate complaint and if they now do nothing (i.e. allow the hedge to block the footpath) and an accident occurs, for whatever reason and the blocking of the footpath is cited in mitigation, where does the council stand.

 

It's a hard one to swallow but mum and her pushchair and two kids meets man with dog and nutter boy-racer comes along . . . big problem and the council will no doubt be blamed in part.

 

It is very easy to make the decision to keep the hedge as it is but what happens when the hedge grows another six inches over the footpath. It looks to me that the council is between a rock and a hard place.

[daltontrees]

Does the hedgerow regulations cover anything like this?

 

 

Nope!

[daltontrees]

Grade 1 listing - is that possible??

 

Or,

 

A TPO of some kind???

 

I checked with Historic Scotland last week for a hedge and they said trees and hedges can't form part of a listing.

 

And as someone piinted out if it was TPO'd it might not help. He could refuse to cut it to abate the nuisance and then the Council would have to come along and cut it in default and they coud calim TPO immunity becasue abating a nuisance.

 

If they let the guy cut it back over a couple of years, I bet it could be made to regenerate. But it'd all be hand-cutting and that would blow the guy's footwear budget. He'd never save enough to get that other shoe.

[Treemover]

I see both sides of this argument, especially as I always advise people to be conscious of path users and remove limbs branches that could cause and eye injury.

 

I would advise this man to look at all council paths in his area, and if anybody else has encroachment issues or low limbs to keep a record.

 

I know a state barrister that has a more offending hedge here in Ireland. Council wont write to him for obvious reasons. Its never a level playing pitch.

[Big J]

Perhaps a gradual reduction over a period of 5 or more years? The hedge is clearly an asset to the village and it would be a shame to remove it. Any work undertaken as prescribed by the council would be worse than removing it. If it was trimmed twice a year for 5 years removing a little over an inch each time, it would be brought back a foot without detriment to it.

[Mick Dempsey]

It's a pity but there you go, worse things happen.

[daltontrees]

Anybody got a 110 yard long Kirby Grip they're not needing?

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Hedge looks great and a fantastic feature for the village but unless it is formally protected in some way (can't see that as a possibility) then the hedge is just that a hedge and it appears to be trespassing onto someone else's land and like many a folk on this forum would agree, if it trespasses, then remove the trespass.

 

Perhaps the owner of the hedgerow should have foreseen that his hedge would cause a problem and maybe he should have managed it so that it wouldn't trespass over the public footpath. Is it not likely that once the hedge is reduced to the boundary line that in a couple of years it will have greened up and no-one would be any the wiser.

 

So now look at it from the council's viewpoint. They have had a legitimate complaint and if they now do nothing (i.e. allow the hedge to block the footpath) and an accident occurs, for whatever reason and the blocking of the footpath is cited in mitigation, where does the council stand.

 

It's a hard one to swallow but mum and her pushchair and two kids meets man with dog and nutter boy-racer comes along . . . big problem and the council will no doubt be blamed in part.

 

It is very easy to make the decision to keep the hedge as it is but what happens when the hedge grows another six inches over the footpath. It looks to me that the council is between a rock and a hard place.

 

Would you consider replacing "trespass" with "encroach?" (not being picky, just trying to be correct in my thinking - if trespass is correct and encroach incorrect please do say so!

[oslac]

Would you consider replacing "trespass" with "encroach?" (not being picky, just trying to be correct in my thinking - if trespass is correct and encroach incorrect please do say so!

 

I think the highways would call it encroachment and no-doubt the local bylaws say the same but it is also a trespass.

 

As one legal bright spark said to me "law will always take precedence over an absence of law". In other words, if the law of trespass is stronger than the laws governing encroachment, a legal bigwig will probably go for the trespass.