Ministers have vowed to introduce new laws dealing with the nuisance of high hedges, following the failure of a backbench Bill in the House of Commons last week.
Yvette Cooper, a Minister at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, said: ‘The Government believes legislation is needed in this area and we will make every effort to get it onto the statute books.’
The High Hedges Bill received its Third Reading last week but was ‘talked out’ by opponents in the Commons, who tabled amendments and made lengthy speeches to prevent the debate reaching a conclusion within the time allocated.
It was based on proposals drawn up by Solihull Tory MP John Taylor, who bought his own Bill in 2001 which failed to become law.
The latest attempt was made by Labour’s Stephen Pound (Ealing North).
But it was blocked by former Tory Minister Christopher Chope (Christchurch), who made a speech in the Commons claiming it would have ‘a more dramatic impact on the English landscape than the combined effects of the great storm, Dutch elm disease and the bombing of the Luftwaffe’.
He continued his rambling speech until time ran out despite pleas from his own front bench to stop talking and sit down.
Ms Cooper said she was ‘extremely disappointed’ the Bill did not get through the Commons.
She said: ‘High hedges can make some people’s lives a misery and cause great friction between neighbours.
‘This Bill is a sensible way to deal with cases that neighbours can’t resolve.’
There are currently no practical legal means available to deal with disputes over high hedges, which can block light to neighbouring properties.
But the Bill would allow local authorities to mediate and order hedges be trimmed.
Last week a 52-year-old Lincoln man appeared in court charged with the murder of his neighbour after a long-running feud over a garden hedge -one of many such rows across the country.
The need for legislation to deal with high hedges, such as the notorious fast-growing Leylandii, was highlighted in 1999 when Ministers published a consultation document seeking views on how best to deal with the problem.
More than 3,000 people responded, with the majority in favour of giving local authorities powers to order hedge cutting.
It was estimated that 17,000 people had problems with neighbouring high garden hedges.
The new Bill will allow local authorities to intervene, but only when neighbours have already tried to solve the dispute amicably.
Councils will be able to act if a hedge is over two metres high, it blocks light or prevents access to a property, and it reduces a neighbour’s ‘reasonable enjoyment’ of their home or garden.
They will have the power to order householders to trim back their hedge but not to demand its total removal.
Refusing to comply could result in a fine of up to pounds 1,000 and the authority could send in its own staff to cut back the offending hedge.
