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The maintenance of hedges that front the public highway are the responsibility of the owner of the land abutting the highway. This may be a private householder, a farmer, a company or the Council. Overgrown hedges cause safety problems to highway users, obstructing sight lines and causing potentially hazardous obstructions.

The Council maintains a small number of hedges on Council land adjacent to the highway. These hedges are cut once a year in October. All cuttings are removed from the pavement and/or road by the contractor after cutting. Hedge cutting is carried out on the Councils behalf by Wyevale Grounds Maintenance.

It is the Councils responsibility to maintain the safety of the highway network and to ensure that landowners responsible for any hedges bordering the highway maintain them to avoid problems. In many cases landowners are not aware of their responsibilities for maintaining hedges. When the Council becomes aware of a hedge requiring maintenance an “Overhanging Hedge Notice” is served on the landowner or occupier under the Highways Act 1980. This gives the landowner 14 days to undertake the necessary maintenance work. In the event that the maintenance is not carried out and that no contact has been made with the Council, the Council may carry out the work itself and recharge the landowner.

Whether landowners cut the hedges themselves or use a contractor to carryout the work, all debris resulting from cutting the hedge must be removed from both the pavement and the road and the work must be carried out in a safe manner which does not put themselves or other road users in danger. If you are in any doubt about necessary signing and guarding whilst undertaking works on the highway please contact us on 823774.

If you wish to report to us a problem regarding hedge maintenance or any other problem or query with this operation either call us on 823777 (normal office hours) or email Highways.