Lady Gardner asked the following question in the house of Lords

Whether they propose to amend the Trees Act 1970 in the light of the House of Lords decision in the case of Delaware Mansions Ltd and others v The City of Westminster and, if so, whether they will include hedges in any proposed new legislation.

It is clear from the replies of Lord Filkin, on behalf of the Government, that we have a long wait ahead for the Government to put through the legislation.

the Government have been clear about their wish to legislate, and a draft Bill is on the stocks to introduce when a suitable time is available. For obvious reasons, I cannot give a commitment for a Bill in this Session or the next, but I am certain that noble Lords will be keeping the primacy of such legislation before the Government's attention.

My Lords, for the second time this week, wait on--the position is clear. If the council refused permission for necessary work to be done to a tree or hedge whose roots were causing damage to an adjacent property, the council would be liable.

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The revised 'Guidelines' which have been published in advance of the new law they were devised to support and an 'advice leaflet' is being prepared to help people to solve their own problems.

Some hedge victims will be most considerably helped if the grower follows the recommendations set out in the revised 'Guidelines', for example those with hedges very close to the sides of windows and those with hedges with a S. SE. SW. and W. orientation. But others, especially those with hedges with a N. NE. and NW orientation will still be saddled with hedges far higher than they consider in any way reasonable and in a large proportion of cases higher than the hedges they are at present complaining about.

The Draft Advice Pamphlet which the Government has produced is Bly supportive of problem hedge growers and will help few victims and we are acutely concerned about this also

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The Revised Guidelines are published, and the Government's intentions regarding them are outlined in the Parliamentary question and Sally Keeble's answer, quoted below.

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION

To ask the Secretary of State for 'Transport, 'Local Government and the Regions, when the project by the Building Research Establishment,and the Tree Advice Trust to develop an objective way of assessing the obstruction of light by hedges will be completed, and when the report will be published.

WRITTEN ANSWER
by Sally Keeble MP, of the Urban Policy Unit.

"The Building Research Establishment (BRE), and Tree Advice Trust have now, completed their project to develop an objective method for assessing whether high hedges block too much daylight and sunlight to adjoining properties, and to provide guidance on hedge heights to alleviate these problems,

Copies of the final report of their work, together with guidelines for calculating hedge height, have been placed in the Libraries of both houses. These documents are also being published on my Department's website.

The guidelines explain how to calculate whether a hedge is likely to block out too much light from a garden and from the main rooms of a house. In relation to gardens, the procedure looks at what portion of the garden is shaded by the hedge and what direction it faces. For the rooms of a house, the main factor is the distance from windows to the hedge. Some of the details of this formula have been refined in the light of the results of consultation and field-testing on sample hedges.

We want to encourage people to apply the BRE guidelines to their problem hedge and to use the results to try to settle matters with their neighbours amicably. We will therefore be preparing a leaflet specifically designed for this purpose. It will include. a simplified version of the BRE guidelines as well as advice on how people might approach their neighbours with the information to try and agree a solution. We will be involving local authority, professional, consumer and advice groups in its development and expect to launch the leaflet in spring next year.

We recognise, of course, that in some cases guidance and voluntary action is no substitute for a legal remedy. We remain committed, therefore, to bringing forward legislation to set up a statutory complaints system for dealing with high hedge problems as soon as there is space in the Parliamentary timetable.

High hedges

Although we have no High Hedges Bill in this Session of Parliament, we have completed the work (carried out for us by BRE) to draw up some objective tests that people can use to assess whether their hedge is causing a major obstruction of light to their homes and gardens.

The final guidelines have been published on our website at:
http://www.regeneration.dtlr.gov.uk/info/env/treeshedges/height/index.htm

The final report by BRE on how they developed the guidelines is also on the web. It is called 'High Hedges, Daylight and Sunlight: Final Report' and can be found at:
http://www.regeneration.dtlr.gov.uk/info/env/treeshedges/daylight/index.htm

Both documents are also attached in Word format.

Because we know how difficult it can be to tackle and settle neighbour disputes of all kinds, we will be preparing a simplified version of the guidelines which will also offer advice on how people might approach their neighbours with this information to try and agree a solution.

Sorry, but Hedgeline cannot offer advice about how to download these documents.

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Hedgeline distributed leaflets to MPs and delegates at all three Party Conferences

This year we had representatives inside the Conference Halls. (The Conferences were somewhat curtailed owing to the international terrorist crisis, but the various Campaigning organisations were still able to distribute their material).

• Molly, a long standing Brighton member and friend of Michael Jones, distributed leaflets inside the Labour Party Conference in Brighton.

• Garth, our North West Area Organiser, and Bruce our Liverpool Area Organiser looked after the Tory Party Conference in Blackpool. A Tory Party Worker distributed leaflets inside the Conference.

• Malcolm from Anglia looked after the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth.
• Duncan, our keyworker who has provided liaison with the Tory Party since Hedgeline was founded, entirely funded the printing of our leaflets.

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The 'draft Guidelines' on hedge heights in residential areas, have been revised and will be published and distributed to the public in some way. (Expected around about the end of this Summer).

These Guidelines were not satisfactory to hedge-victims, but it was always intended that they should be tested, and if necessary, revised. The Guidelines have been tested on Hedgeline hedges and I understand that some changes have been made. For reference on the disappointing 'Draft Guidelines'

We have no chance of getting the new Law in this Session, as the Government are not giving a high priority to putting our Bill through, and no 'Ballot-winning Private Member' came forward for this Session. We will, however, at least have an authoritative statement of 'reasonable hedge height' which we will be able to try and use until we can persuade the Government or a private member to put our Bill through.

See latest standard letter from the DTLR, immediately below.

Sally Keble MP has replied as followson behalf of Stephen Byers, the Government Minister now responsible for our concerns, to a letter from a member's local MP, (September 2001),-

"John M. Taylor's Private Member's Bill failed to reach the statute book before the election and so was lost, and the subject has been picked up in this new Session by any of The MPs who were successful in the ballot. Other priorities have also prevented its inclusion in the Goverment's own legislative programme - for this first Session at least.

Nevertheless, we remain committed to bringing forward new laws to deal with high hedge problems as soon as there is space in Parliament's busy schedule.

Meanwhile, my Department has commissioned the Building Research Establishment and the Tree Advice Trust to develop a simple formula that would enable people to assess whether or not a hedge is likely to obstruct light to someone's home or garden. Although light is not the only problem that people encounter with these hedges, it tends to be the main one. We expect to receive the final report of this project during the summer. We will then be considering what is the best way of getting this information out to the public, so that people are encouraged, to apply the formula to their problem hedge and to use the results to try to settle matters with heir neighbours amicably.'.

On 10th August 2000, after the Consultation, which had responses in the thousands compared with the usual hundreds, Michael Meacher, the Government Minister, then in charge, wrote, -

'The majority view, therefore, is that people want new legislation establishing a complaints procedure administered by local authorities'.

The need for new legislation was admitted by the Government, and promised for 'when there is Parliamentary time'. This was a whole year ago. and the Government and local Councils have been receiving letters about dire problems with neighbours' high-hedges for five years previous to this.

We are victims. Our lives are to a greater or lesser degree being ruined and our savings and even our homes are being put at risk, by the acknowledged unfairness of existing Law. The growers of problem hedges have far more rights than their victims.

The injustice is almost universally acknowledged; the issue has B cross party support.

Many people, are volunteering the general opinion, that they feel that it could be put through quickly and easily and that the Government should find a way to do this, and not leave us dangling with no hope of anything except being repeatedly put off with the words, 'when there is Parliamentary time'.

The 'High Hedges Bill' was drafted by the Government and published in Feb 2001, It was sponsored by John M. Taylor as a private member's bill in the last session of Parliament, ending April 2001 .

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