Agenda item

This report advises the committee of the petitions presented to the Mayor at council meetings and also includes a petition referred for consideration. 

Discussion:

The lead petitioner, Adrian Pycroft, addressed the committee advising that three years ago he had approached the owner of the high hedge in Jersey Road, Strood referred to in the petition but subsequent contact was ignored by the owner and an invitation to use the mediation service was declined. This had then prompted the petition to the council.

Mr Pycroft informed Members that the petitioners accepted that the council had to take account of the legislation that stated that if each petitioner officially complained to the council, each complaint should be dealt with separately and individually but then linked together as they are processed (as set out on page 13 of the agenda). The fee set by Medway Council for each complaint to reduce the height of a hedge was £420 per property which would mean a total fee of over £9,000 if all the property owners who signed the petition submitted separate complaints. This would previously have been £6,000 but there were now a further six properties that had contacted the lead petitioner and wished to join the other complainants.

The petitioners requested that they would like Medway Council to have a policy for multiple complaints with an initial application fee of £420 and a much smaller, nominal fee set for each separate household who officially complained and asked the committee to forward this request to Council for consideration.

Councillor Hubbard, as Ward Member, advised the committee that he had visited the petitioners and had not appreciated the height of the hedge until he had stood in their gardens in Pepys Way. He advised that, in his opinion, although the hedge was growing in an old quarry in the grounds of a property below the petitioners’ gardens, it was probably 60 – 70 feet high in total with the top section showing at least 20 foot high in the gardens in Pepys Way and growing higher. He asked the council to re-consider requesting the full fee of £420 per property for each complaint submitted.

The Senior Tree Officer advised that the council had to act as an impartial third party and could not give an indication or opinion until a formal complaint had been received and validated. He explained that there was a separate fee for each property, as each would generate about 10 – 12 hours of officer time to validate each complaint and respond to each in turn. This was on the basis that they would most likely all have different outcomes depending on their situation and location to the hedge. There was also an appeals process and possible future court action and the £420 fee was intended to partly cover these costs.

Some Members thought that this must be a nationwide problem - that many people were affected by one oversized hedge or tree and that common sense would prevail in circumstances such as these. They accepted the officer’s explanation about the fee for each application and the work it involved but did not think that charging over £9,000 would be providing a good, reasonably priced service for the residents.

The Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture responded that he would be willing to authorise that the first application paid the set fee of £420 and each subsequent application referred to in the report paid an additional fee of £20, due to the special circumstances of this case.

Decision:

The committee noted the Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture’s intention to reduce the fees for the set of applications referred to in the report under his delegated authorityto £420 for the first application and £20 for each subsequent application relating to the hedge, due to the special circumstances of this case.