One of those trivial neighbourly disputes that ends up doing your head in and ruining your life!

[Enid]

about.......hedges - feel free to stop reading at this point.

We live on a lane, there is a hedge opposite bordering a field (arable farm). The new tenant farmer is refusing to cut the hedge (he has signed up to some European subsidy scheme which recommends cutting hedges every three years only). It is now 15 feet high in places and we now don't have a) a view or b) much light coming in - the hedge is about 20 feet from our house. We are gutted as we have spent the last seven years improving our garden and laying our own hedge, only for this bloody idiot to spoil it all. We have a lovely view normally across the fields to the ridge opposite - one of the reasons we bought the house in the first place, now all we can see is a huge overgrown vile old hedge, like a 15 foot wall.

Is there anything we can do? Does anyone know anything about these kind of trivial yet irritating disputes?

Enid

Sorry, but quick search suggests that legislation on high hedges only relates to hedges which are predominantly evergreen.

I also THINK that I recall that legislation only relates to garden boundaries - but may well be wrong.

And finally (really sorry) but you don't have any right in planning law to a view. You could take private legal advice on your right to light but from my tiny experience in planning, this would be fruitless.

thanks for that jamiesam

I thought as much

errr... could you offer/agree to selectively cut certain bits? That way you gain some view and he doesn't lose his subsidy?

chainsaw in the dead of night???

ok now to admit that dh cut some of it so we could see out of the window

he came round and went mad (the farmer). I spoke to him and tried to calm him down but he said that Defra would know we had cut it and cancel his subsidy because...wait for it...they have spy satellites that check this kind of thing

i am going to ring Defra next week just to hear their side of it

why does it recommend cutting hedges every 3 years?

how frustrating ..no advice .. sorry

We used to have a gorgeous rural view,our neighbour built a 60ft long wooden "caravan"its at least twenty foot high as its on wheelsAND they are really noisy!it stretches virtuall y the entire length of our boundary,and their land is higher than ours so we feel like exhibits in a zoo!i actually wouldnt mind your hedge!(sorryxx)

Hasn't there been some sort of initiative to discourage farmers from cutting hedges because of the wildlife they support, etc?
Also, mad as it seems - I think they DO do aerial satellite surveilance - because of farmers potentially stretching the truth about their various crops.

V sad about your view.

When you say is there anything you can do? do you mean to legally force him? Or do you mean to salvage the situation? Also when you say your dh has trimmed the hedge do you mean he went over there without permission with a chainsaw and just
because he thought he would?
Imagine how you are going to feel when this farmer chappie turns up on your property brandishing a chainsaw!
If I were you I would go round and see his wife.Fall on the sword and say you have been an idiot and you'd like to be friends and the hedge doesnt matter.And then possibly when you are friends they might take a more compassionate view of things.
Be the bigger person because regardless of whose side the law favours he will still be your neighbour.

I don't think that you have any rights to a view or even sunlight.

and mad as the spy satalites seems, they have used them to track EU subsidies that were being milked by the miafia in Italy.....not that i think they will be homing in on his hedge but you see what I mean!

Congrats on the babe btw!

yes well birdsnest we did all that being friends stuff in the first place and it did us no good whatsoever. We asked very nicely several times as we are rather good mannered by nature

its very frustrating but still I'll have to cope with it by mouthing 'tosser' behind his back whenever I see his car

funny to hear that he may be right about the spy satellites

Sorry if I've upset you.
Look on the bright side at least its not a massive battery hen farm.Or a sewage farm....
His right to earn a perfectly legal living comes before your desire for a better view I'm afraid.
Still worth being matey with him in my opinion.Play the long game.

yes I am friendly to his face (just whisper 'twat' when he walks off)

it wouldn't kill him to cut the bloody hedge

all the other farmers in the village do theirs

Hello?could still be a huge caravan!

Sorry enid,that was rude of me,there is nothing like being walked all over by your neighbours,it sours how you feel about your home and garden!Good luck!