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  • Page Updated:
    14/09/2007
  • Author:
    Mark Minkley
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High Hedges and the anti social  behavioural order

 Latest news (press release issued by Arboricultural Association 6/09/2004)  It appears that one of the weekend papers raised the profile of the impending High Hedge legislation and that has given rise to an increase in calls to Local Authority officers. The  Arboricultural Association has checked with the ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) and there has been no change to the intended implementation date for the legislation, namely "the end of the year" (2004). Until implementation Local Authorities have no power to take action under the impending Anti Social Behaviour legislation.

  

The Anti-social Behaviour Bill received Royal Assent on 20 November 2003 and is now The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003.  Part 8 of the Act gives local authorities the powers to deal with complaints about high hedges which are having an adverse affect on a neighbour’s amenity.

 

The measures are not yet in force though.  The regulations and guidance for the local authorities who will be administering the complaints system need to be put in place first.  The next step will be to carry out public consultation on these.  Guidance to the authorities will provide advice on how to assess complaints objectively and what weight might be given to different factors.  The consultation is likely to be issued in the Spring.

 

We expect the measures to be fully implemented towards the end of 2004.  In the meantime, people affected by high hedges should be encouraged to try negotiating a solution as they will now be operating from a position of strength.  Hedge-owners might be prepared to be conciliatory rather than face the prospect of formal action by their local authority. ODPM has produced a leaflet, 'Over the Garden Hedge,' which offers advice on how people might approach their neighbours to resolve disputes amicably.

 

Key points to note are:

 

  • Making a formal complaint should always be a last resort.  Authorities will have powers to reject complaints if they think the complainant has not taken all reasonable steps to resolve the matter or if the complaint is frivolous or vexatious.

 

  • Local authorities will provide an independent and impartial review, considering each case on its own merits and taking account of all circumstances.  Such circumstances might include the contribution the hedge makes to the wider amenity of the area.

 

The legislation will not:

 

  • Make any presumption about the outcome of complaints;

 

  • Place any onus on local authorities to carry out work needed to remedy problems caused by the hedge. (They will have the power to enforce action required by a remedial notice which they have served on the hedge-owner);

 

  • Require all hedges to be kept at a height of 2 metres.

 

Further information:

 

Text of the Anti-social Behaviour Act (high hedges are in Part 8) is on the HMSO web site at:

http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030038.htm

 

Latest position and background papers are on the ODPM web site at:

www.odpm.gov.uk/treesandhedges

 

Over the Garden Hedge is available on the ODPM website or by post from

 

ODPM Free Literature

PO Box 236, Wetherby

West Yorkshire, LS23 7BN

Telephone 0870 122 6236