OT: Highways, Hedges and Police.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Since when has it been a pesticide?

[Fergus O'Rourke]

No.

I am bewildered by your bewilderment.

Why do you think trials are needed ? When someone is found "not guilty", is it because there is no evidence against him or because the evidence is deemed insufficient ?

Or are you one of those who presumes that if there is credible prosecution evidence against someone, s/he is automatically guilty, notwithstanding that there may be evidence that s/he is not guilty ?

[fred]

Unlikely to be available for much longer, the UK rules are just implementing an EU directive, details via the link above.

[robgraham]

How about the copper nail alternative. Again black night, etc. but the timescale to die is sufficiently long that tracing the perpetrator becomes more difficult.

[cynic]

First you need to establish the status of the lane. If you are lucky it may appear on the enclosure awards for your area with a specified width. (Note that the enclosure awards use terms which do not bear the same definition as modern parlance, thus a private road is not what you think - it is a road not maintainable by the government but can still be a public right of way). Other sources may be helpful and your county archives may have old maps and records giving more details to aid your case. If a county council has ever maintained the lane your case to require them to do so now is strengthened. If the lane width extends to the wall and the trees are growing in the "highway" they may be subject to an obstruction clearance order. Organisations such as the Ramblers or the BHS have access officers who can give useful advice if you are a member of one of them. You may also have a course of action open by complaining to the county council about the hedge being a nuisance and impairing your quiet enjoyment of your property. This course of action is often helped by enlisting the support of your ward councillor. County Council highways departments can be notoriously unhelpful until you get serious and have the law behind you, even then they drag their heels if the budget is tight.

Dont get mad, get even.

Stop trying to cope with the opposition, let them try to cope with you!

[JimK]

of course openly agitating things with jobsworths will most likely bring the coppers a knockin should you have to implement the notorious "Plan B" (heinous chemicals and night cover) - sounds like you need a commitee of like minded anarchists (ideally with a collection of old "illegal" weedkillers) or just the balls to go and poison it yourself (no offence intended).....

Cheers JimK

[Clive George]

How does one go about trimming an 8 metre hedge to 6 metres?

Scaffold tower, cherry picker both seem a bit too large scale for a covert operation. Ladders - would you? Is the hedge sturdy enough to lean against?

(yes, this isn't to do with the original question, but it's got me interested)

[Adrian C]

Wood burning Laser (I wish!)

[Jules Richardson]

Take off the bottom two metres rather than the top - it's a lot easier ;-)

[Alan J. Wylie]

An agricultural solution is to get a tractor with a flail/cylindrical blade/clippers attachment on an arm.

Ooh look - there's even a web site dedicated to them

[JimK]

burn it down and let it grow back :>)

[Clive George]

"max. cutting height hedge clippers 4.80m"

[Me Here]

What????

[The Natural Philosopher]

Tractor and disk cutter prolly.

8 meters is arguably not really a hedge.. >

[The Medway Handyman]

Yay! Robot Wars!

[JTM]

As long as the wind is in the right direction, and no one sees who has the matches

John

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "tom.harrigan" saying something like:

Bugger that, get some Roundup.

[Dave]

I would have thought that the boundary to the land was defined by the wall, not the hedge, which can move over the years.

Dave

[rbel]

It is possible that the landowner has taken out a 'license to cultivate the highway verge' under which responsibility passes from the local/highways authority to the licensee. A number of people in our part of the world have done this.

[JimK]

presumably you make your living from exploiting the gap?

understandably perchance

JimK