Overhanging trees and lack of hedgetrimming

[Werzle]

Sad state of affairs where it will take a member of public hurt or killed by a bale knocked off a load , a branch broken off or a lorry/tractor over the white line head-on crash avoiding overgrown trees/hedges to get anything done. Then they will roll out the "lessons will be learnt" cr#p

 

[Bob lincs]

If we have any overhanging branches ,trees or hedges on roads we regularly use we just cut them back and do a good job of clearing up . We very rarely get any complaints. A few hours and a bit of diesel is nothing if it keeps you in good books with the locals .

 

[betweenthelines]

Its not that the hedges are owned by the council (largely they aren't), its that they (as the relevant highway authority) are legally responsible for ensuring the road is clear to all public traffic. There is absolutely no reason why councils could not have a rapid system of response to complaints about overhanging vegetation - pretty much all land ownership details are available now via the Land Registry, so it would be simple to determine who the owners are, send out a letter demanding the offending area be cut back at the owners expense as a first step, if they receive a second complaint then they could instruct a contractor to do the work, and bill the landowner. If the landowner refuses to pay just stick them on the list of people the council legal team are chasing for money, they have whole departments dealing with council tax and rent arrears.

They have all the relevant legal powers, they just can't be arsed to use them.

This is true, but more commonly used when garden hedges or trees are obstructing pavements.

TBH when I've been trimming, I've sometimes cut back problematic growth on other people's hedges.

If they complain, I just say it was done for public safety and they should be thankful I'm not charging them.

 

[Daddy Pig]

It's pointless to change tyres for the 3 days a year the roads freeze here. What about HGVs, school buses and the like? It's easier to salt the roads.

didn't have many problems with snow and ice here last winter, mud from maize harvesting, now that's another story.

 

[David.]

The next village to here are desperate for a bypass, having played local politics when the money and will to build one were there some 30 yrs ago, so it wasnt done.
There is a tosser who owns 100m of laurel hedge on the roadside at a pinch point as vehicles leave the village, and they are obviously letting it grow out into the road thinking it will help reinforce the bypass case.
It has got so that lorries and wide vehicles on the main road now have to cross the centre line to keep the mirrors out the hedge.
As I was putting yet another nozzle holder on the sprayer the other day, I was wondering what the legal remedy would be, and also wondering why nobody is doing anything about it.

 

[ollie989898]

The next village to here are desperate for a bypass, having played local politics when the money and will were there 30 yrs ago, and do it wasnt done.
There is a tosser who owns 100m of laurel hedge on the roadside at a pinch point as vehicles leave the village, and they are obviously letting it grow out into the road thinking it will help reinforce the bypass case.
It has got so that lorries and wide vehicles on the main road now have to cross the centre line to keep the mirrors out the hedge.
As I was putting yet another nozzle holder on the sprayer the other day, I was wondering what the legal remedy would be, and also wondering why nobody is doing anything about it.

Take a silage trailer along the road. Slowly. With it part tipped up...

 

[David.]

I think you could lay yourself open to a charge of criminal damage.

 

[fieldfarmer]

I think you could lay yourself open to a charge of criminal damage.

I know of one court case where damages were paid.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

If you got a banch in way then it needs to have an accident on night little push with the handler boom out should do it

 

[Highland Mule]

It's pointless to change tyres for the 3 days a year the roads freeze here. What about HGVs, school buses and the like? It's easier to salt the roads.

Your summer tyres stop working properly a long time before freezing - probably a good few months of the winter. They’re called winter tyres and not snow tyres for that very reason, and it’s the softer compound runner that’s equally important as the aggressive tread pattern.

 

[kiwi pom]

Looking at it from another point of view. My parents (in England) and their neighbour across the road keep everything cut back on their few acres. Looks great but now cars, delivery vans and especially tractors have made the road much wider and pass each other anywhere instead of suitable areas. Result, the road edge is destroyed, fills with water as the drains are knackered, the water then washes the road surface away. Its almost not suitable for a car any more its that rough.
Tri axle, overloaded silage trailers, 250 hp tractors on wide tyres and 3 or 4000 gallon tankers tearing the road up all the time.
I can kind of see the point of people trying to make the road harder and slower to navigate.

 

[Grassman]

Looking at it from another point of view. My parents (in England) and their neighbour across the road keep everything cut back on their few acres. Looks great but now cars, delivery vans and especially tractors have made the road much wider and pass each other anywhere instead of suitable areas. Result, the road edge is destroyed, fills with water as the drains are knackered, the water then washes the road surface away. Its almost not suitable for a car any more its that rough.
Tri axle, overloaded silage trailers, 250 hp tractors on wide tyres and 3 or 4000 gallon tankers tearing the road up all the time.
I can kind of see the point of people trying to make the road harder and slower to navigate.

Our lane edges are destroyed. The reason is cars. To see a tractor passing on our lane is rarity.

 

[kiwi pom]

Our lane edges are destroyed. The reason is cars. To see a tractor passing on our lane is rarity.

Used to be fairly rare at my parents place but a heap of small dairy farms packed up and either rented ground or sold it in lots to different buyers.
Now the farms that are left have put more cows on and took on ground all over the place. They spend most of their time hauling silage one way and slurry the other at the same time as a neighbour, hence the verges get ploughed.
If they all got together they could probably do a heap of land swaps and all have something approaching ring fenced farms.

No wonder they need a good milk price.

 

[Brisel]

It's pointless to change tyres for the 3 days a year the roads freeze here. What about HGVs, school buses and the like? It's easier to salt the roads.

Not true. Any temperature below 7 degrees and you'd be better off with winter tyres. Ever since I got a set for my Mrs who used to drive a lot for work, we haven't had a hard winter!

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/winter-driving/should-i-buy-winter-tyres/

 

[Brisel]

What's the rest of the country like because in West Somerset some roads are basically inpassable due to the lack of hedgetrimmimg and also now in full leaf , dropping branches . The council last year started only doing one cut on hedges ie 4 ft high from road surface . Even two is crap for lorries,tractors etc as its around 10 ft high you have mirrors etc. I ve broken 4 mirrors so far this year on SP sprayer, £ 45 / time . Four nd out that I can report to council ( roads that are bad) which I am doing but not seeing any action. Don t know what the answer is really ?.

Ps, West Somerset is like Devon with earth banks and proper hedges on at best a 10 / 12 ft road ie proper hedges and narrow roads. Guess a lot of you have no such thing to deal with ? I will post some pics later this week when there again.

Dorset are equally useless. They laid off the hedgecutting budget when they blew their savings in the Iceland banking crisis & employed someone whose job it is to spend their lives looking at the Land Registry and write snotty letters to the landowner whose hedge it is. We just do our own each July before harvest where we drive the combine/grain trailers and then properly in the winter.

 

[Oscar]

I have already phoned my hedgetrimming guy who does some work for me in mid July( couple hours work) at home to trim various bits to help with safety through harvest . Anyhow told him I needed him an extra day to travel around and trim the bad bits for me even though it's up to 20 miles away and not my hedges . It will be cheaper longterm than doing damage to the kit. It's not just mirrors , its nozzles ,air lines and pipes plus scratching paintwork . Because of only one cut rule now, it's two years growth now and three next .

 

[matthew]

Our problem is one very narrow road and high earth / stone banks which meet the tarmac. Vehicles have got wider and the hedge cutter chap, having had grief from the three houses opposite (whose hedge banks are equally rough) hasn't been down recently.
We too received a threatening letter from a contractor branch of council.. So I replied saying that the length in question would be cut after the nesting bird season was over. i.e After August 31st. and we contacted our chap who is sending a smaller tractor for that short length.

But in conversation with a local councillor, he had had words with the local council, who had sent a Highways officer for a look see. No probem said he. Definitely not a safety issue, and 'if funding allows, they (CC) will add it to their job list'. I have that letter filed.

I think if the hedge bank hits the tarmac, it may be the CC's repsonsibilty to trim as with the 'splays and corners, not that of the land owner.
This road leads to a few dwellings and then up the valley to the other coast road. No agricultural traffic uses it. It's about 10' wide. An old horse and cart job..

But interesting to have a threat from one section of CC and 'no problem' letter from another.

 

[SRRC]

I've twice been contacted by the council to trim back over grown hedges, if not donr in a given time they will do it and send me the bill . I believe it's the owners responsibility if it's much higher than the grass that the council trim . It's the owners you need to get at . If not report the offending hedge to the council and they should contact the owner

The best way to report stuff like this is www.fixmystreet.com it goes to the correct department and it's on record so gets dealt with within the statutory time.

 

[SRRC]

The next village to here are desperate for a bypass, having played local politics when the money and will to build one were there some 30 yrs ago, so it wasnt done.
There is a tosser who owns 100m of laurel hedge on the roadside at a pinch point as vehicles leave the village, and they are obviously letting it grow out into the road thinking it will help reinforce the bypass case.
It has got so that lorries and wide vehicles on the main road now have to cross the centre line to keep the mirrors out the hedge.
As I was putting yet another nozzle holder on the sprayer the other day, I was wondering what the legal remedy would be, and also wondering why nobody is doing anything about it.

You can do something about it by reporting it on www.fixmystreet.com

 

[yellow belly]

most tractor mirror stalks have a allan screw that tentions the brake back
they are generally too tight when new so do not deflect easly so breaking the miror
i set them so they deflect easly saves on mirror replacements