OVERGROWN HEDGES AND TREES BORDERING ROADS AND PATHS
Dear Parishioners,
You may not be aware that there are strict rules governing the growth of trees and hedging bordering paths and roads.
There should be clearance of at least 2.2m (7’ 2’’) above a footway, pavement, or verge to allow pedestrians free passage.
Hedges/vegetation should be cut back to the boundary line so as not to overhang or encroach onto the highway (meaning carriageway, footway or verge)
We realise that until 1St September this could not be carried out but we would request that you check any of your boundaries to make sure that you are compliant with the above.
It is very easy for hedges to get thicker just by a little bit each year, despite being cut back regularly, to the extent that they eventually take up quite a lot of space on a pavement. That hedge may require some radical pruning to put it back where it should be. Indeed, your hedges may need more than one pruning session to keep them inside your boundary line.
All hedge/ tree cutting should be completed by 1st March
NB Health and Safety take precedence so wherever there is a danger to the public caused by overgrown hedges they can be dealt with irrespective of date
There is a process to be followed is as shown below:
– If required, the Parish Council will send a letter to individual landowners to notify them that their hedges/trees need some remedial work.
– If the problem is not rectified then the matter would be passed to County Highways. They will then contact the Landowner to ask for that work to be done. If not completed within a certain time period they will undertake the work themselves and may then present a bill to the landowner.
Trees overhanging the highway.
A hazard is defined as any vegetation which increases the danger to the highway user, including obstruction of visibility or obstruction of street lighting or when a clear height above a footway or paved area is less than 2.4m or above the carriageway less than 5.2m.
If this is the case the Parishioner can report this using the link below:
https://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/info/20978/tell_us_about_road_or_highway_issues
Cllr. Catherine Knight
Chair of Abberley Parish Council