Background and Evidence
Background
The High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013 received Royal Assent on 2 May 2013 and the Local Government and Communities Committee has agreed to undertake post-legislative scrutiny of the Act to determine how it is working.
The aim of the Act is to provide a solution to the problem of high hedges which interfere with the reasonable enjoyment of domestic property and gives the relevant local authority powers to settle disputes between neighbours related to high hedges. Where a hedge has been defined as a high hedge under the Act, an owner or occupier of a domestic property may apply to the relevant local authority for a high hedge notice.
If the local authority, having taken all views into account, finds that the hedge is having an adverse effect, it could issue a high hedge notice requiring the hedge owner to take action to remedy the problem and prevent it recurring. Failure to comply with such a notice would allow the authority to go in and do the work itself, recovering the costs from the hedge owner. There is a right of appeal to the Scottish Ministers against decisions of an authority and any high hedge notice issued by it.
The Act places a duty on the Parliament to make arrangements for a committee or sub-committee of the Parliament to report to the Parliament on the operation of the Act during the review period. That review period begins when section 2 (relating to applications for high hedge notices) comes into force and ends 5 years after that date, or on such earlier date as either the committee or sub-committee may determine. Section 2 came into force on 1 April 2014.
Call for Views
The Local Government and Communities Committee launched a call for written evidence from all interested parties as part of its consideration of its post-legislative scrutiny of the Act.
Organisations and individuals are invited to submit written evidence to the Committee setting out their views on how the Act is working.
Read the call for evidence.
Written Submissions
Read the written submissions received.
Summary of Written Submissions
A summary of written submissions received by the Committee can be found at the following link:
Oral Evidence
On 19 April 2017, the Committee took evidence from the following individuals who had responded to its call for views:
- Pat MacLaren, and Pamala McDougall, Scothedge;
- Roger and Catharine Niven;
- John Bolbot;
- Liz Grant;
- Dr Donald Brown;
- Donald Shearer.
Link to papers for meeting on 19 April 2017
Official Report of meeting on 19 April 2017
On 10 May 2017, the Committee took evidence from the following:
- Kevin Wright, Environmental Planner, Aberdeen City Council;
- Alastair Hamilton, Service Manager, Fife Council;
- Paul Kettles, Planning Enforcement Officer (North), Perth and Kinross Council.
Link to papers for meeting on 10 May 2017
Official Report of meeting on 10 May 2017
On 17 May 2017, the Committee took evidence from the following:
- Mark McDonald, Member in Charge of the High Hedges (Scotland) Bill.
Link to papers for meeting on 17 May 2017
Link to Official Report of meeting on 17 May 2017
On 24 May 2017, the Committee took evidence from the following:
- Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government and Housing, Paul Cackette, Chief Reporter, and Julie Robertson, Policy Officer, Scottish Government.
Link to papers for meeting on 24 May 2017
Link to Official Report of meeting on 24 May 2017
Following the meeting on 24 May 2017, the Minister for Local Government and Housing wrote to the Committee:
The Minister for Local Government and Housing wrote to the Committee on 14 July 2017 with further information on high hedges statistics collected by local authorities:
Committee Report
The Committee's report was published on Sunday 10 September 2017:
The Scottish Government responded to the Committee's report on Friday 27 October 2017:
Correspondence
The Minister for Local Government and Housing wrote to the Committee on 26 June 2018 with an update on work being taken forward by the Scottish Government:
The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning wrote to the Committee on 2 November 2018 with a further update:
The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning wrote to the Convener on 31 January 2019 in relation to updated guidance sent to local authorities:
Lewis Macdonald MSP wrote to the Committee regarding the updated guidance on 29 March 2019 (224KB pdf)
The Convener wrote to the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on 10 April 2019 regarding updated guidance sent to local authorities:
The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning replied to the Convener's letter on 1 May 2019:
The Convener wrote to the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on 27 June 2019 in relation to the 2019 revised guidance:
The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning replied to the Convener's letter on 5 August 2019:
The Convener replied to the Minister on 1 October 2019:
The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning replied to the Convener's letter on 19 December 2019:
Timetable
- 6 February 2017: launch of call for views
- 20 March 2017: closure of call for views
- 19 April 2017: evidence session with individuals who had responded to the call for views
- 10 May 2017: evidence session with local authorities
- 17 May 2017: evidence session with Mark McDonald MSP, the member who introduced the Bill
- 24 May 2017: evidence session with the Minister for Local Government and Housing