On Fri, 25 Jul 2003, Essjay001 wrote:

But does the owner have to cut them?

Yes he does, a house holder can do more or less what he likes within the
bounds of his own property, however once his hedge /shrub stsrts to imping
on the pavement he is then blocking a public right of way. If a pedestrian
has to walk in the road because of the overgrowth from a domestic property
and gets knocked down by a passing car who is he going to blame and more
importantly who is he going to sue.

Hmm! A sorts of interesting points have come out of this thread which I
started some thirty messages ago, not least that many of us are a bit
hazy about who is responsible for what!

However my original complaint, which has been lost sight of, was that a
man down the road from me was being made by the council to spoil his
lovely, neat hedge which overhangs the pavement only slightly and
doesn't incommode pedestrians (I know, because I use that pavement
regularly) while cars in the same road which are parked on the pavement,
and which *do* incommode pedestrians, are ignored. I find it difficult
to negotiate these cars so I'm sure a blind man who also uses that
pavement does, too, not to mention mothers and children walking to and
from the local primary school.

Either double standards or a jobsworth - or both!

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