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Making a Complaint about a High Hedge

Guidance for completion of the complaint form

The |High Hedges complaint form should be used for making a formal complaint to the Council under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 about a neighbouring high hedge. You should also read the leaflet |High Hedges: Complaining to the Council.

Consideration of your complaint may be delayed if you do not complete the form properly or do not provide the required information. If you are still unsure how to answer any of the questions, please contact |Planning Services.

|Section 1: Attempts to resolve the complaint

State briefly how you have made the approach to your neighbour (for example by letter, phone call or face to face) and what the result of that contact was. The following are examples of the sort of information required:

Example A

Date: Phoned neighbour (state name and address of neighbour) to ask if we could discuss his hedge. Met on (date) but no action agreed because.....(state);

Date: contacted a mediator (state organisation/name);

Date: Met neighbour [state name] with mediator. Still could not find a solution we were both happy with because..................(state);

Date: Wrote to neighbours [state name] to advise him/her that I would be complaining to council (send copy of letter with application form).

Example B

Date: Wrote to neighbours (state name) to ask if we could discuss his hedge. 2 weeks later no reply received (send copy of letter with application form);

Date: Wrote to neighbour to ask if he would speak to mediator. 2 weeks later still no reply;

Date: Wrote to inform neighbours (state name) that we would be complaining to council. (send copy of letter with application form)

Example C

Date: Saw neighbours (state name and address) in their garden and asked if we could discuss hedge.

Date: Neighbours (state name) came round on (date). Explained to them problem we have with the hedge. Sympathetic but no prepared to reduce the hedge as much as we wanted;

Date: Neighbours (state name) seemed willing to try mediation but we discovered that neighbour mediation not available in our area.

Date: Saw neighbours (state name) again and told them that we wanted to complain formally to Council. Left it for a couple of weeks then confirmed in writing that we would be going ahead with the complaint (send a copy of the letter with the application form).

Note: If the dispute is a long-running one it is not necessary to send copies of all correspondence with your neighbour about the hedge. You need only provide recent evidence of your attempts to settle it.

|Section 2: Criteria for making a complaint about the hedge

2 or more trees or shrubs?

A complaint cannot be made against a single tree or shrub or against a tree or shrub which has multiple stems all growing from 1 trunk
The trees do not have to be in a straight line as long as they are roughly in line

Evergreen or semi-evergreen?

All evergreen trees or shrubs are covered by the Act
Semi-evergreen means a hedge which retains live foliage throughout the year - beech and hornbeam which retain dead foliage would therefore be excluded
The hedge does not have to be wholly evergreen or semi-evergreen but have to be predominantly so

Over 2m high?

The hedge must be over 2m high
This should be measured from the ground where the trees or shrubs are growing - usually on the hedge owners side
Means the natural ground level at base of tree or shrubs but where there is a mound, bed or container the measurement should be from the adjacent natural ground

Is the hedge capable of being a barrier to light?

The Act applies to hedges which are capable of being a barrier to light
If the individual trees or plants are widely spaced or the foliage is sparse the legislation may not apply

Is the hedge on someone else's land?

A complaint can only be made if the hedge is on land outside of the ownership of the complainants property
It does not have to be on land directly adjacent to the complainants property
It does not have to be on one other owners property but could be owned by several parties or could be on open land (e.g., parkland)

Who can complain

You must be the owner or occupier of the property affected by a high hedge in order to make a formal complaint to the Council.
If you do not own the property (e.g. because you are a tenant or a leaseholder), you can still make a complaint, but you should let the owner (e.g. landlord or management company) know what you are doing

|Section 3: Grounds of complaint

Provide as much information as you can but keep to facts.
The property does not have to be wholly residential but it must include separate living accommodation otherwise we cannot consider the complaint.
A copy of this form must be sent to the person who owns the property where the hedge is growing and to the person who lives there if they are different people.
Concentrate on the hedge and the disadvantages you experience because of its height.
Problems that are not connected with the height of the hedge cannot be considered. The following are examples of matters which cannot be considered (a) the roots of the hedge are pushing up a path (b) other people in the area keep their hedges trimmed to a lower height and the hedge is out of character with this (c) worrying about the hedge is making you ill (d) The hedge sheds debris over your garden (e) the hedge stops light entering your greenhouse. A clear photograph of the hedge and a plan showing its location and surrounding properties should be provided. When drawing your plan make sure that you (a) mark and name surrounding roads (b) sketch in buildings, including adjoining properties (c) add house numbers or names (d) mark clearly the position of the hedge and how far it extends.
If you are complaining about the hedge blocking light, please also show on your plan (a) which way is north (b) The position of windows that are affected by the hedge (e.g. whether they are located on the front, side or rear of the house) (c) Relevant measurements (e.g. size of garden, distance between the hedge and any windows affected).
All measurements must be in metres (m).
Include copies of any professional reports that you may have had prepared and of any other documents that you want the Council to take into account.

|Section 4: Previous complaints to the Council

We only need to know about formal complaints, made under the high hedges part of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003. You don't need to tell us about telephone calls or other informal contact with the Council about your hedge problems.

|Section 5: Who's who/the parties

We need all these names and addresses because there are some documents that we are required, by law, to send to the owner and occupier of the land on which the hedge grows. These include our decision on the complaint.

Question 5.1
Even if someone else is submitting the complaint on your behalf, it is important that we have your contact details. Tick the 'Yes' box if you prefer to be contacted by email. We cannot send documents to you electronically unless you agree.

Question 5.2
You need to complete this section only if the complainant does not live in the property affected by the hedge. We need this information because we will have to get in touch with the occupier to arrange to visit the property so that we can see for ourselves the effect of the hedge.

Question 5.3
Complete this section if you are a professional adviser, relative, friend or other representative. You will be our main contact on all matters relating to this complaint. We will direct all queries and correspondence to you. Please bear this in mind. If you tick the 'Yes' box, we will conduct all business relating to this complaint by email. Note we cannot send documents to you electronically unless you agree.

Question 5.4

This will normally be the person you have talked to when you tried to agree a solution to your hedge problems.
If the site where the hedge is growing does not have a postal address, use the box to describe as clearly as possible where it is, e.g. 'open parkland adjacent to 35 East Street'

We need this information because we will have to contact these people for their comments, and to arrange to visit the site where the hedge is growing.

Question 5.5
If you are in any doubt about who owns the property where the hedge is situated, you can check with the Land Registry. The |Land Registry website provides easy access to details of registered properties in England. Copies of title plans and registers held in electronic format can be downloaded in PDF format for a fee. The register includes ownership details.

|Section 6: Supporting documents

Make sure you have ticked all the relevant boxes.

If you have ticked the last box, please list these documents by date and title (e.g. January 2010 - surveyor's report). This will help us to check that we have got everything.

If you are submitting the form by email but will be posting supporting documents to us separately, put a reference number or title on them (e.g. hedge complaint by Mr Smith of 16 Barrow Court) so that we can match them up with your complaint.

|Section 7: Sending the complaint

Makes cheques payable to Elmbridge Borough Council

Send the completed form to:

High Hedges Complaints
Planning Services
Elmbridge Borough Council
Civic Centre
High Street
Esher KT10 9SD

Or email it to |Planning Services
NB Remember to send a copy to the owner/s of the hedge

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