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A council has been accused of a ‘money-making racket’ after a homeowner was told it will cost £3,800 to lodge a dispute over his neighbour’s 16ft hedge.
Daniel Laws, 46, and his young family, from Bournemouth, Dorset, have been forced to live with the overgrown conifer trees next door blocking out the light.
The single father-of-three, who has a daughter who is severely disabled, said his garden gets absolutely no sunlight for as much as half the year.
The former teacher, who lives in the affluent Talbot Woods area of the coastal town, said he has asked her several times to slightly prune the row of evergreens.
But after this was ‘dismissed’, he took matters into his own hands and researched his options online – where he found a route out of the thorny problem.
Householders can challenge ‘high hedges’ under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 if they are more than 6ft tall and significantly affect the enjoyment of a property.
This has to be done through the local authority, with claimants submitting a neighbour dispute form to kickstart a council investigation to decide the action to be taken.
But Mr Laws was soon told by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council he would be charged a hefty fee for the privilege of filling out the paperwork.
It is set to cost an eye-watering £3,800 – a whopping six times the standard fee other English councils charge to process complaints.
Most councils do levy a tariff on residents who wish to engage in this procedure – though it is typically between £50 and £600.
The homeowner cannot afford to pay the sum – so his family has been forced to continue to have their quality of life affected, with his children growing up in shadow.
A deeply disappointed Mr Laws, who moved into his £500,000 detached home in 2017, said he expected a ‘minimum level of protection’ from the local authority.
The exorbitant charge felt like a particular kick in the teeth after council tax was also hiked up this year – by nearly five per cent.
He dubbed BCP Council’s behaviour ‘unforgivable’, saying they were failing to ‘do their job’.
The father, who is approaching ten years in the property, said: ‘When I moved here the hedge was already high then but it has got more and more outrageous.
‘It’s ridiculous, it steals every sunny day – they are ruined for me. There’s no reason why she should have a five metre high hedge.
‘I get no sunlight at all in my garden for half a year. I have approached my neighbour and also her gardener twice.
‘When I asked my neighbour if she would do something about it, she dismissed me saying, “How long have you lived here? You know it has always been a high hedge”.
‘I’m not asking her to bring it down to two metres. It can still be a high hedge but the gardener just needs to taper it in a way which will allow light into my garden.
‘You expect a minimum level of protection from your local council, not a money-making racket.
‘Choosing to charge £3,800 to do their job and protect a member of their constituency from what is legally considered anti-social behaviour is utterly unforgivable.’
Councils can order overgrown hedges to be cut back – but complainants must show they have attempted to resolve the issue informally first.
BCP Council said the charge is set to meet its costs, including hiring a specialist contractor to do an arboriculture assessment.
A BCP Council spokesperson said: ‘The fee covers the cost of investigation. BCP Council works on a full cost recovery model for fees and charges.
‘Fees have been calculated on full cost recovery of officer time.
‘An allowance has been included for specialist contractor costs to undertake an arboriculture assessment or provide backfill for capacity which is being used for High Hedges rather than standard service offers.
‘As these costs generally range from £2,000-£3,000, a median has been applied to the fee structure to reduce this component of the fee.’
BCP Council has been approached for comment.
Read more
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