HIGH HEDGES—NEW LAWS

Abstract

Summary Thousands of people's lives are being made a misery by ill-advised planting or lack of maintenance of garden hedges. Where neighbours do not co-operate, there is little that the person affected by the hedge can do to resolve the issue. Following public consultation, the UK Government therefore committed itself to introducing new laws in England and Wales to tackle problem high hedges as soon as Parliamentary time allowed. The Government gave full support to John Taylor MP's High Hedges Bill in the 2000/2001 Parliamentary Session. This would have created a new procedure for dealing with complaints about these problem hedges, to be administered by local authorities in England and Wales. While it failed to reach the statute book before the 2001 general election, the Taylor Bill gives an indication of what any future Government measure might look like. The timing of its introduction, however, remains uncertain.