Hedge

The Scottish Government has recently completed its consultation on high hedges and other nuisance vegetation.  Campaigning group Scothedge have been calling for fairer hedge laws in Scotland for many years and now some real action may be imminent.

As long ago as 2001, the then Scottish Executive declared itself satisfied that a “statutory remedy is required” for the problem of high hedges and the neighbour disputes which can arise.  Yet, 8 years on, there is still no new law and hedge campaigners can only watch, green with envy, at their English and Welsh counterparts where Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 regulates complaints by a householder that their “reasonable enjoyment of that property is being adversely affected by the height of a high hedge”.

The Scottish Government consultation recognises that boundary disputes between neighbours are likely to have been aggravated by the availability of low-cost, fast-growing hedges and that the impact can be severe – but the paper does not promise new laws.

Instead a number of possible options are to be considered, including mediation, a code of conduct for hedge-growers, encouraging the inclusion of hedge limits in property title deeds. Perhaps disappointingly for those railing against the “tyranny” of high hedges, the paper also notes that “taking no such steps is also an option”.

The policy officer of Scothedge writes in this month’s Journal of the Law Society of Scotland: “Scothedge members are not seeking their ‘day in court’. They just await sensible legislation which will make growers change their behaviour once they realise that it is not only unreasonable but probably illegal.”

Tags: courts, law, mediation, property, solicitors