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| Boundaries can help with neighbours! |
Good Hedges, Good Neighbours
By Geoff Carr (Twitter @GeoffCarr2)
Benjamin Franklin,
one of the Founding Fathers of the United States is
known to have said, “Love thy neighbour, yet don’t pull down your hedge.” Given
how many different cultures have versions of this seemingly contradictory proverb,
it clearly represents a common sentiment among neighbours everywhere. But how
can you be neighbourly if you are divided by hedges? These sentiments are not
totally contradictory and are probably better known by the saying “Good fences
make good neighbours. If you know where you stand, where your property begins and ends, it
makes for better relationships.
However,
disputes over boundaries and hedges can and do occur all too frequently and can
lead to misery on both sides of the line. Below is a quote about hedges and
boundaries that I’ve copied from the UK Government website.
You must try to settle a
dispute about a high hedge informally before the
council can intervene.
Ask your
council for a complaint form if the
hedge is all of these:
- 2 or
more mostly evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs
- over 2
metres tall
- affecting
your enjoyment of your home or garden because it’s too tall
You might have to pay the council a fee to consider
your complaint. .
When you can trim hedges or trees
You can trim branches or roots that cross into your
property from a neighbour’s property or a public road.
You can only trim up to the property boundary. If
you do more than this, your neighbour could take you to court for damaging
their property.
If you live in a conservation area, or the trees in
the hedge are protected by a ‘tree
preservation order’, you might need your council’s permission to trim them.
If your property borders a road
The highways authority can ask you to cut back
hedges or trees on your property if they’re causing an obstruction in the road.
If you refuse, they can go into your property without your permission to do the
work themselves. They may charge you for this.
Property damage from hedges
Your neighbour is responsible for maintaining their
hedges so they don’t, for example, damage your property or grow too high. If
they do damage your property, your neighbour may be liable.
Although
hedges are most commonly associated with boundaries between properties they
also perform a major design function within the garden too. Indeed hedging
plants are not restricted to the usual suspects such as Beech, Yew, Laurel,
Privet or Leylandii. More ornate examples could include Choisya ternata, Berberis,
Euonymus, Cotoneaster, Hydrangea, Escallonia, Hypericum, Griselinia littoralis,
Pyracantha, Hibiscus, Rose, Lavender, Spiraea, Lonicera or Bamboo. If you’re
looking for a mixed, native country hedge selection I would recommend Hawthorn,
Blackthorn, Field Maple, Hazel, Dogwood, Spindle, Crab Apple and Wayfaring
tree.
My favourite
hedging plants are those that can be pruned hard and kept well within the
confines of their own space. Plants such as Beech, Yew, Privet, Laural, Holly,
Pyracantha and Photinia will all regenerate if pruned back to the main stem and
can thus be kept well behaved. Other plants such as Leylandii if allowed to
outgrow their allotted space will not regenerate if cut back hard but will take
years to simply regrow back to where you didn’t want them. And, talking of
trimming hedges, you might like to know that the Wildlife and Countryside Act
and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds both state that you should
not prune between 1st March
and 31st August.
Geoff Carr
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