Gullane neighbours fall out over hedge which East Lothian council rules is 3cm too high

The owner of a hedge at the centre of a dispute between neighbours has been ordered to trim it by three centimetres after planners stepped in.

The Gullane residents were unable to agree over how much to chop off the Leylandi hedge which spans the back of their gardens.

One homeowner, who lives in Muirfield Park, in the community, asked East Lothian Council to issue a High Hedge Notice on his neighbours, living in The Hawthorns, after claiming repeated requests to them to cut down the hedge were ignored.

But while the council this week agreed to issue the notice requiring the owners to maintain the hedge, they introduced a maximum height of 4.34 metres.

And they said recent visits to measure the hedge which is 18 metres long confirmed its current height is between 4.37 and 4.5 metres, meaning parts would only need a 3cm trim to meet the new height.

In a report to council, planning officers said that while the applicant argued the hedge blocked out sunlight to his home, the owners of the hedge had said it was required to give them privacy from a first floor balcony built on the neighbouring property seven years ago.

And planning officers confirmed that the balcony and french doors were granted permission because of the “high boundary vegetation” which provided the Frasers with privacy from an otherwise overlooking balcony.

Their report said: “Accordingly, a balance is therefore required to be struck to enable the occupants of The Hawthorns to retain their privacy, whilst allowing the occupants of Muirfield Park to enjoy their residential property and associated curtilage.

“The height in which the hedge is required to be maintained will reflect this.”

The notice set the maximum height at 4.34 metres ordering the owners to ensure it is no higher and kept at that height in the future.