How wide is the ditch , can't you get an excavator with a tree sheer on and do it from your sideOh deep, unabiding joy!
Thanks all - no way I can't maintain my ditch, my field would be under water! B lazy ass land owners give everyone else a bad name!
Ours arent that deep, couple of feet?
Its more that the height needs taming to allow it to thicken, before it gets too tall and falls over in a stiff wind and good bye privacy/ wind break/ habitat etc
That hedge ditch rule is a fecking stupid one, maybe when stuff was done with spades it might have made a glimmer of sense but from that time forward it’s bloody stupid being responsible for a ditch the opposite side of a hedge for all partiesThe hedge does go with the ditch, only they both belong to your neighbour, under the hedge and ditch rule of boundaries, unless you have something on your deeds that says otherwise. Technically you shouldn't have been maintaining the ditch on your side of the hedge without permission, though its unlikely that anyone is going to make a fuss about it. However if you go flailing their hedge without permission they will undoubtedly get narked.......
Exactly in 1750 it was maybe a law that made sense, but 300ish years later it should have been scrapped as b@llocksThe custom around here is to cut your side, and leave topping to the hedge owner.
The ditch rule hangs on the assumption that the man digging the ditch dug right up to his boundary, then threw the spoil back onto his own side and finally planted the hedge on the spoil mound.
However in 1700 and whatever, ditches would have been cleaned by hand with a shovel and the cleanings thrown in the hedge bottom.
But nobody anticipated needing future access to the neighbours field with a 16 ton metal dinosaur looking thingy, to do the job mechanically.
Exactly in 1750 it was maybe a law that made sense, but 300ish years later it should have been scrapped as b@llocks
so, with the boundary law as it is, would you clean out a ditch "your side" of a hedge, when technically you only owned up to the edge of the ditch?Its not a statute, ie a law that was passed by Parliament, so it can't be repealed, its part of Common Law, ie the body of law based on precedents that has grown up over centuries of civil court decisions. At some point some judge decided the Hedge and Ditch Rule was the correct way to decide boundary disputes, and once that precedent was set all other judges after followed the same rule.
So there is really only one way to change it, you'd have to convince Parliament to legislate to override the Common Law precedent on boundaries and insert their own definition instead. However that might be worse for landowners, because then your boundaries would be defined by Parliament, and as we all know no one Parliament can bind another, so boundary law would no longer be set in stone, it could always be changed by a new Parliament with different ideas. At least with Common Law precedents you have a fairly secure knowledge of where the boundary is, and will be in perpetuity. Politicians are here today gone tomorrow so things could change constantly.
I generally do clean out ditches on 'my' side, because its to my benefit and no-one ever seems to complain about ditches being cleared out, it appears to be considered a universal 'good thing'. As @Dry Rot says, what could you be sued for, improving a ditch? And lets face it a lot of the people who are a problem in these circumstance don't realise its their ditch anyway. Whereas lots of people have different ideas as to what a hedge should look like so cutting someone else's hedge is likely to stir up a hornets nest. I think in most people's eyes a hedge is more of 'thing' that they own (and thus can be damaged) than a ditch is.so, with the boundary law as it is, would you clean out a ditch "your side" of a hedge, when technically you only owned up to the edge of the ditch?
you are absolutely right and many people have absolutely no idea of either the law or what constitutes a good hedgeI generally do clean out ditches on 'my' side, because its to my benefit and no-one ever seems to complain about ditches being cleared out, it appears to be considered a universal 'good thing'. As @Dry Rot says, what could you be sued for, improving a ditch? And lets face it a lot of the people who are a problem in these circumstance don't realise its their ditch anyway. Whereas lots of people have different ideas as to what a hedge should look like so cutting someone else's hedge is likely to stir up a hornets nest. I think in most people's eyes a hedge is more of 'thing' that they own (and thus can be damaged) than a ditch is.