Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council has dealt with reports of a breach of a high hedge remedial notice. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions. Nor can we achieve the outcome the complainant is seeking.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council will not take enforcement action against his neighbour’s high hedge despite a remedial notice being in place. He wants the Council to force the neighbour to reduce the hedge to below two metres or remove it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. If someone has a high hedge, the law gives councils the power to make a remedial notice. A remedial notice means the hedge owner must keep the hedge under a certain height. A remedial notice also means a council can take enforcement action to make sure the hedge is maintained at the agreed height.
6. A remedial notice will describe the hedge it relates to and define how it must be managed.
7. In 2018, the Council issued a remedial notice against Mr X’s neighbour about their high hedge which runs along the boundary with Mr X’s home. This requires the hedge to remain below 2.25 metres.
8. Mr X complains the neighbour has allowed the hedge to breach the maximum height three times. He wants the Council to force the neighbour to cut the hedge below two metres or remove it.
9. The evidence I have seen shows the Council visited the site in 2023 and wrote to the neighbour requiring they cut the hedge back to the required height within 21 days. It also explained that failure to comply may result in formal action which could result in a fine of up to £1,000. The neighbour cut the hedge back.
10. Mr X complained to the Council the neighbour has allowed the hedge to exceed the maximum height again.
11. The Council visited the neighbour and confirmed the hedge is just below 2.25 metres. It confirmed they must not allow it to grow above 2.25 metres. It also stated it had received complaints three times since the remedial notice was issued that the maximum height was exceeded. It also noted they had delayed in complying with the Remedial Notice. It confirmed as they failed to comply in the future the Council will consider whether court action is appropriate.
12. The guidance on the high hedge notices says:

“It is for councils to consider whether they use these powers to carry out the works specified in the remedial notice; if so when they employ them; and whether this is done instead of; or alongside a prosecution. There is no requirement or obligation on councils to intervene. As a result, there should not be a general expectation that councils will step in, nor that they will do so immediately after a breach of a remedial notice occurs.”

13. In this case the Council has visited the site following Mr X’s reports that the neighbours hedge is breaching the terms of the remedial notice. It has also written to the neighbours and achieved compliance with the notice. I understand Mr X finds it frustrating that his neighbours do not automatically comply with the notice, however this is the action of his neighbours, not the Council.
14. I also understand Mr X wants the hedge cut back to lower than the height stated in the remedial notice or removed. However, the Council can only require compliance with the notice.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of fault in the way the Council has dealt with his reports that his neighbour was breaching the remedial notice. Also we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman