[Greengage]

I thought your readers might be interested in this article, Maybe we could get something similar here.

High hedges legislation to become law

Environment Minister Alex Attwood said today that new legislation designed to resolve disputes over high hedges, will become law on 31 March.
~ Tuesday, 13 March 2012

The Northern Ireland High Hedges Act is designed to help people who are adversely affected by high hedges bordering their domestic property. The Act deals specifically with evergreen and semi-evergreen hedges that are more than 2-metres in height acting as a barrier to light to a neighbouring domestic property.

Commenting on the legislation today, the Minister said: "This is an important piece of legislation which I hope will go a long way towards reducing the number of disputes over high hedges.

"District councils will have an important role in administering and enforcing the legislation. They will investigate complaints and will have the power to issue remedial notices requiring hedge owners to take action to reduce the height of a hedge found to be causing a problem.

"However, before bringing a complaint, complainants will be expected to have discussed the issue with their neighbour in an effort to resolve the dispute.

"I hope that the very existence of the Act and its financial implications will be an added incentive for neighbours to reach agreement."

Failure to comply with the terms of a notice served by the Council will be an offence. The penalty for non-compliance with a remedial notice will be a fine of up to £1,000. There is also provision for a further fine for continued non-compliance.

Concluding Minister Attwood added: "I want to ensure that long-suffering complainants will not be out-of-pocket. The Department has also brought forward legislation to transfer to the 'hedge owner' the obligation to pay for the investigation.

"I am pleased that the necessary fee legislation is now in place and complainants will not be expected to pay more than £360 to have a hedge complaint investigated. Councils can now deal with high hedge complaints and we will see an end to the blight of high hedge problems."

Source: http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-doe/news-doe-130312-high-hedges-legislation.htm?WT.mc_id=rss-news

[Sive]

Considering there are strict planning controls on how high a wall or fence you can erect, it has never made sense to me that you could grow a " green wall" of any height and plunge a neighbour's garden into gloom without any legal obligation to reduce the height.
We could do with the "Tesco Tax" too ( just being introduced into N.Ireland ) it might put a stop to another blight altogether.......

[medieval knievel]

[Greengage]

A controversial levy on large stores comes into force in Northern Ireland this weekend.

The scheme, dubbed the "Tesco tax", revalues rates on commercial premises that have a rateable value of more than £500,000. The proceeds will be used to reduce rates for smaller businesses and will affect 76 stores in Northern Ireland. It is thought it will cost big shops an average of £66,000 a year.

The Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, which represents large retailers, has said the levy is unfair and poses a risk to future investment. Ikea has claimed that Finance Minister Sammy Wilson could be putting jobs at risk.

However, Mr Wilson has said the levy will help people struggling in the harsh economic climate.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/big-stores-hit-by-northern-ireland-tesco-tax-7606221.html

[Gautama]

Interesting piece. They've had that in Great Britain for a good while, I'd always assumed that they have it in Northern Ireland too.

Erecting screens/trellis/etc on top of a 2m wall also contravenes the existing wall height restrictions.