Planning, building and the environment

Public registers

Do Councils have to make details of high hedge complaints available to the public?

Councils are not required to maintain a register of high hedge complaints that is open to public inspection as they are, say, with planning applications.

Does the issue fall under the Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations for disclosure?

The issue of high hedges will fall under one of the regimes for access to information held by public authorities. Any requests for such information should, therefore, be considered under the relevant legislation on their individual merits. Under both the Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations, there are exemptions in respect of the provision of personal information or information likely to prejudice criminal inquiries where disclosure would not be in the public interest.