Planning, building and the environment

Limits of the legislation

What sorts of complaint can the Council look at?
You will find the answer to this and other questions about the complaints system in the leaflet High Hedges: complaining to the Council .

It talks about evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs. What is a semi-evergreen?
Semi-evergreen means that the hedge retains some live foliage throughout the year.

I've got problems with a neighbour's beech hedge. Can I make a complaint about this?
No. Beech, and hornbeam, hedges might retain some foliage for most of the year but this is brown and dead.

What about bamboo? Is this covered by the legislation?
No, bamboo is not covered by the legislation. It is classed as a grass.

What about ivy? That's evergreen?
Ivy may be evergreen but it is a climber and so needs support in order to give it height. Any height-related problems are thus caused not so much by the ivy as by what it is growing up. For this reason, we take the view that ivy is not covered by the legislation.

But all these plants - and deciduous trees - block light and cause other problems. It is illogical - and unfair - to exclude them.
Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 was never intended to provide the answer to all nuisance tree and hedge problems. Nor was it intended to provide people with general rights to uninterrupted light or views.

The section on Extending the legislation to other trees and hedges explains why the legislation was restricted to evergreen hedges. It also indicates that we are unlikely to extend the law to deal with other types of tree and hedge problems in the near future.

Can a complaint be made when a high hedge affects a caravan?
It is open to legal interpretation as to whether caravans are classed as "domestic property" under the provisions of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003. However, given the purpose of the legislation, our view is that only caravans that are permanently occupied would be eligible to use the complaints process under the 2003 Act eg if the caravan was situated on a park home site. It is likely to be difficult to demonstrate that a high hedge had adversely affected the reasonable enjoyment of a caravan that is used for holiday purposes, and thus occupied for only part of the year.