High hedge disputes

Valid complaints are given to a caseworker, who will book a visit to the site. They will let all owners know at least one day before a visit takes place.

The caseworker will visit the site to:

• make sure all the information in the complaint is correct
• make a judgment about the high hedge

Once the caseworker has seen the evidence, they will write a report recommending what action will be taken. The development control manager then decides how the case will proceed.

What happens if we uphold your complaint?

If we decide to support your complaint, we'll issue a remedial notice.

A remedial notice explains why we're supporting the complaint and tells the owner what actions they must take. We usually ask them to trim the hedge. We cannot ask them to remove a hedge or cut it below two metres. The notice also sets a deadline for these actions.

The second part of the notice tells the owner of the hedge what they have to do to stop the problem happening again. They'll also be told what will happen if they do not take these actions in time.

The remedial notice gets sent to:

• the person who makes the complaint
• the person who owns the land the hedge is on
• any neighbours affected by the decision

A remedial notice is registered as a local land charge for the time it is valid.

It's possible that the owner will do something to permanently solve the problem. This can happen either before or after the remedial notice is issued. If this happens, we'll withdraw, dismiss, or relax the terms of the remedial notice. We'll notify you and the hedge owner of any such changes in writing.