Neighbours planning restriction is on my land!

[WhyCantPeopleBeNice]

Hopefully you can all help, my neighbours have applied for planning permission for a menage, this will be VERY close to my property.
Despite objections our planning committee gave them permission. There was a planting scheme clause and they had to submit plans. Work has started so I checked the portal and hey presto plans were submitted (but not shared with neighbours)

Their planting scheme includes a hedge on my land and states it must not be cut below 2 metres.
I'm not being funny, but WTF?

This has apparently been approved as building works have started.

We objected because the original plan had a road less than 6 metres from our kitchen window for machinery and the menage will be 10 metres away. It was pushed back 1 metre so now only 11 metres away because they were made to put in a planting scheme but this planting scheme is my existing hedge, a 1.8 metre fence and then them planting some laurel (50cm high!)

Can the planning department really allow them to include my hedge in their planting scheme?
Can they place a restriction on it, without our knowledge?

According to their plans I am now responsible for a maintenance course as set out by them and approved of the council to reduce the impact they are causing me.

Please someone tell me if this is allowed? We had plans to remove part of our hedge to fit a summer house in and now it looks like we cant

Has anyone told you you can't?

In your shoes I'd just get cracking and remove your hedge.

Then locate the plans and raise the fact that there is no hedge where the plans say there should be.

Is it an ancient hedge? Or just a modern privet or similar type of hedge? If it's modern I would probably remove it & replace with a fence... after all you didn't know about it, right? As long as you're certain it's fully on your land, obviously.

Is it not just that they’ve taken into account the fact that there is an existing hedge between your house and the ménage, which obviously already provides some privacy for you, and a fence plus additional hedging has to be installed by the ménage owners?
If you choose to remove part of your hedge on your land that’s up to you, but there would still be the new fence and new hedge for privacy.

No-one has said anything, I think that's part of the problem.
The planning officer has failed to update us about something which impacts us. If I complain then i'm acknowledging I know about it, if I keep quiet, could I then get into trouble if I remove it at a later stage? Likely next summer

There is already 2 metres missing where our oil tank is situated (with fireboards) which sits on the boundary, the summer house would be going next to this to a) hide the oil tank from view and b) it can be a bit taller 2.5 metres than our hedge

Out of interest, how tall is your hedge, and how close to the boundary is it? Also, can you prove it’s your hedge?

You can get planning permission for work on land you don't own.
However, whether you can implement it is another matter.
Your hedge is still your hedge and you can do whatever you want with it (more or less). Removing your hedge may breach their plans, but you are under no obligation to follow the plans.
However the dilemma for you, is that the hedge screens their development so is in your benefit to keep.
I doubt that planning would take enforcement if you removed the hedge as it's for your benefit. Your neighbours have been quite canny I think here.
Caveat - I'm not a planner. You might want to take professional advice here.

Hedge is a native hedgerow. It's been in place since the houses were built in the 70's as the field behind was always used for grazing of cows. New owners have changed that.

Hedge is 100% on our property

The issue is the clause around cutting it below 2 metres that is a change in how we manage our hedge, plus in places it isn't 2 metres because it was laid 2 years ago

I would contact Planning and tell them that a condition has been applied to your hedge and that there's no agreement on your part to comply with that condition..

Did the landscaping scheme form part of the original planning application for the ménage or has it been submitted afterwards to meet the requirements of a condition imposed on the original planning permission?

If it is the latter, is there anything on the website to show that those details have been approved/the condition discharged?

Was the red line showing the boundary of the application site in the original planning application correct ie did it only include land owned by the applicant?

I'd pick up the phone today and speak to someone.

@Seeline The plans were submitted after based on a condition.
The planning portal is showing this as "Condition discharge" but nothing formally written by the council other than the discharge under document type.

Throughout the planning application they included our hedge, we continually in every objection letter stated this is our hedge, its deciduous (and totally see through in the winter as a result) which is peak time for the menage and stables to be used.
The plans show a black line with the boundary and the hedge appears on our side of the black line

You should have received notification if planning. Every neighbour should have done. There would have been a period of consultation and a planning app sign posted.

They cannot make you keep the hedge. Are you sure the planning doesn't stipulate that they need to plant a hedge?

Contact the planning officer. All the info will be on the planning portal or your local council.

If you know an architect go have a quiet word with them. Give them a call in the first instance

I would phone the planning office/follow up with an email reminding them that the hedge lies outside of the application site, and outside of the applicant's ownership control. Under planning law conditions have to be amongst other things, reasonable and enforceable. This situation is neither. I would ask to speak to the Development Control manager. I would also copy in your local Councillor on the email.

Is it actually a ménage (group of people living together) or a manège (horsy thing)? It makes quite a difference.

An architect is unlikely to be able to help. A Planning Consultant would be the correct professional to advise, but I would approach the Council in the first instance and ask how they are going to fix their mistake -particularly when the OP has already told them that the hedge is hers and nor part of the application site.

Planning is independent of land ownership. Anyone can apply for permission on land. You are within your rights to point out to the planning officer that it crosses the boundary and you have not been asked for nor given permission for the hedge position.

@Novum the horsey sort!!
We're getting a stunning road for their ancient smokey tractors to access their next field, a menage and a metal clad stable that is bigger and taller than my property.
Lucky us!

In no other application have I found anything so close to residential properties. There was a disagreement over the distance from my property in the planning committee which they voted against checking and instead voted through this monstrosity

Planning is independent of land ownership, but if an application includes land under another ownership then the correct notices have to be served.

In this instance, the OP states that the drawings show the hedge to outside of the application site. Therefore no conditions should relate to the hedge.

The current situation does not relate to a full application, but details to discharge a condition on the already approved permission.

Can you apoeal against the planning decision?

*appeal

I suspected as much. Councillors on planning committees often make perverse decisions because they aren’t experts but are prepared to go against the professional advice of their officers.

There's one of those menagery thingies down the road from us. It smells constantly of horse piss. Sorry OP!

@watcherintherye we can't appeal but we could try and bring a case against the council for failing to follow due process in the planning process which adversely effects us.
I already have one complaint that was found in my favour for their failure to provide updates on material changes, so we very nearly lost the opportunity to respond.
The planning committee meetings I insisted on a change to the minutes which were inaccurate and now this.

If we choose we could argue the councils failures have impacted us, and try and get the council to make changes, they would be fully liable for the costs of such changes and need to appeal to our neighbours to allow whatever they need to put in place to reduce the impact.
Until the building works are complete it's hard to know if our perceived impacts will actually be an issue so i'm reluctant to go down that route until I am clear on the actual issues and what I want doing to reduce.

The other potential avenue is complaints about the noise/ smells etc to the environment team once its up and running. Obviously the planning team don't care because by that point its out of their department!

I've got some work to do now (sigh) but i'll draft an email to the council based on the advice so far.
ie condition that I have no obligation to comply as it is neither reasonable or enforceable as it is outside the owners control plus they have failed to issue any notices

The council make mistakes frequently. I have to contact them for various issues through my work and find our local really slow to respond (literally months). Had to contact them for personal reasons 5 months ago and chased it up a few times and got no response so complained and was told they have a current backlog of NINE MONTHS that is why I have not heard from them.