Twenty-year Haddington hedge dispute: owner must trim it by one foot

East Lothian planners issued a High Hedge Notice on its owner after neighbours failed to reach agreement over its height.

And they revealed that the issue had been going on for more than 20 years involving “letters, emails and discussions with East Lothian Council’s mediation service”.

The hedge, which is in the garden of Eastwood, in Haddington, a Category B-listed building in the town’s conservation area, is said to block light to a neighbouring single storey property on John Brown Court.

But while the owner of the ground floor flat said that the hedge was too high, its owner highlighted that he had already cut the hedge back after it reached nearly 4 metres two decades ago.

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A report by planning officers said that the hedge owner objected to the application for the notice to be issued.

It said: “The hedge is said to have been approximately 4m in height in 1996. The hedge has since been trimmed to its current height of 2.4/2.5m in height, halved in width and has been removed completely from the south east corner, nearest the applicant’s door.”

Pictures submitted by the applicant showed the hedge towering over the entrance to their ground-floor property in 2000 before it was initially cut back (see image below).

Images also showed it growing above a fence boundary last summer, throwing a shadow over a window and the glazed front door of the home.

Planning officers ruled that the hedge, which is made up of privet and laurel, needed to be reduced to 2.13metres, however claims that cherry trees in the south of the owner’s garden also created a high hedge were dismissed.

They said the hedge “causes a detrimental effect” on the neighbour “to a level in which any occupier of that property could reasonably expect to have.”