Hedge vandalised - what can I do?

pimento

We share a 150' boundary with the local fire service. The boundary comprises of a mature hawthorn hedge that until yesterday was 10' high and filled with nesting birds. We have just come home from attending our son's graduation to find that the fire service have butchered the hedge and have taken it down from 10' high to 5' (I have measured it).

See the photos. One is the view of the diesel pump taken from my back door and the other from our patio further down the garden.







The ownership of the hedge is not in dispute. It's a shared hedge but we have exclusively maintained it for the 12 years we have lived here. We cut both sides and trim the top. This takes my husband some time to do but the fire service have never offered to help so when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in January and knew he wouldn't be able to keep the hedge trimmed, he asked the head fireman if they would mind trimming it until he was well enough to start doing it again. The fireman said not to worry, they would keep it trimmed.


I cried when I saw it today. Not only have we lost all our privacy but now our property is open to anyone as the hedge is now easily scalable.

I have called the fire and rescue property department who arranged this (without consultation with us) and told them I want the name of the cowboys who did this. My question is, what redress do I have? I know that the hedge will grow back in time but there's a very distict possibility that my husband will no longer be here when it has grown back and we have lost the amenity of the hedge for the several years it will take to grow high enough to give us some privacy.

The hedge was full of nesting birds too.

Gah! why couldn't they have consulted us, we'd have been happy for the height to have been taken down a bit bu to chop 50% off is just vandalism in my opinion.

What do I say to the fire service representative when he comes to see me on Monday?

Mr_Ted

:(Theres little you can say about something that cant be undone, and unfortunately it looks like they have taken it down to a level with a wall, which I would have to assume was an assumption as to where to trim it back to.
The good news is it will probably grow back quite rapidly.

I understand the emotional comment but it is unfortunate, maybe you should have had a better consultation about your expectations as there are regulation height in respect of boundary's and I expect the Fire Service have consulted these:o

As for the birds nesting, I doubt they are this late in the year;)

pimento

The fire station is two feet lower than us because we are on a hill. The wall contains a diesel storage tank/pump. Adjacent to the pump we are two feet higher. On our patio (at the bottom of the garden) we are four feet higher.

Hawthorn doesn't grow quickly.

phill99

Mr_Ted wrote: »

:and I expect the Fire Service have consulted these:o



As for the birds nesting, I doubt they are this late in the year;)

Don't assume either of these.

Mr_Ted

http://www.hedgelink.org.uk/files/Hedges_and_the_Law.pdf

OP has a choice, but is it worth it

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?PID=408

Take into account the additional 2 ft on the Brigade side and once again is it worth the hassle

At the end of the day it cant be stuck back!

Cannyquine

I sympathize with you, but 5 feet seems a reasonable height for a hedge.It may be the standard height of all the Fire Stations' hedges in your area. It's just a pity that no one gave you any warning beforehand

keystone

Im going to sound dreadfuly uncaring but I don't mean it now so apologise in advance - just trying to be objective. Whilst you looked after both sides and the top they didn't care. Matter taken care of.

Unfortunately when you asked them to "trim" it there was no specification given as to te degree to which it should be kept trimmed. So with lack of comprehensive instruction they did what they felt was right.

Ted's first link is much more related to hedgerows rather than hedges and there is an enormous difference betwen the two and IMO not really relevant.

The second link pertains to High Hedge legislation and I have to say that at 10 feet tall, had they a mind, then they would have been quite within their rights to ask you to reduce the hedge to an approx 2m height. If you chose not to and the tall hedge was causing a nuisance then a complaint could be made to the Council who could then force you to reduce the height. However since you were mantaining it previously I guess it wasn't an issue.

So, having given them carte blanche to cut it without any conditions attached I can see the situation arising where someobody could have consulted someone else in authority and without you being available the decision was taken to cut it down to a height which complied with the legislation as technically (although they hadn't complained) it was in breech of legislation when you told them to cut it.

Its probably as simple as that. So looking for the "cowboy" that did it is probably totally non-productive.

As Ted says the bits cut off can't be glued back on. It will grow again - eventually.

I think you just have to accept (in an objective way) that what's done is done and just move on. I agree that, subjectively, it might be unpalatable to you to accept this and sorry if thats not what you wanted to hear.

Cheers

pimento

The head fire officer came round tonight to personally apologise. He said that he had no idea when they asked the contractor to 'trim the top of the hedge' that they would take the height down by half. He said it was unacceptable and that if it were his house he would be furious, too.

We have a meeting on Monday with the contractor and an officer from fire head office for them to make suggestions as to what they can do to make it better. The fire officer tonight has already suggested that they build a proper fence on the fire station side of the hedge to a height of about eight feet to give us some privacy back. We will see what they say before we decide.

It appears that the contractor sub-contracted the job out to a company who sub-contracted it out again so it would appear that the person actually wielding the chainsaw was the work experience bloke who had left his tape measure and his brain at home that morning.

Leif

It sounds like you have little recourse since you asked them to cut it, but did not specify the height, you assumed they would do it in a suitable way. But you should write to them, and let them know that you are not happy, and that they should not trim it again, otherwise they might do the same next year. They might even think they were being nice to you.

It might grow back with renewed vigour. Because so much was trimmed, you now have the same sized root system supporting much less above ground growth, so the growth might be exuberant next year. I have found that to be the case with established Japanese Quince and Weigela plants which were rejuvenated by severe pruning. Checking online, you can expect 45cm growth per year, so it will be recovered in a year or two, not ideal I guess given your circumstances.

pimento

Oh and the job spec was to 'square off the top of the hedge'. In the past we have paid our own contractor to take the top down a bit (you can see from the tree in one of the photos where the hedge height was two years ago) and only wanted the firemen to keep the sides in check. They have said in the past that they don't mind if we want to grow the hedge as high as we want. They understand that they are a bit of a nuisance with lights and noise and that the hedge is our only screen.

keystone

In the light of your new information I withdraw some of what I said above. Your last paraghraph might be unfair though. You left no instructions apart from cut it. I guess the FB gave no instructions either. All the guy did was do what he was told so pillorying him is not helpful.

An eight foot fence will normally require planning permission BTW although they might have an arrangement.

Cheers