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Alan Curbishley's neighbour taken to court for cutting down 100-year-old hedgerow
Tim Stewart11.09.09
Alan Curbishley's neighbour was taken to court after he illegally cut down hedges outside the home of the football manager.
The former West Ham and Charlton Athletic coach, 51, had a 100-year-old hedgerow running alongside his home in the village of Abridge, Essex.
But neighbour James Phillips, 50, illegally cut it down in January last year, leaving the house on full view from the road.
Phillips owned the land the hedgerow was on but did not have permission to get rid of it.
Epping Forest District Council prosecuted Phillips for three offences of removing hedges under the Hedgerow Regulations 1997.
After a two-day trial at Harlow Magistrates Court, he was found guilty and fined £6,000, plus costs of £5,000.
Speaking after the case, Curbishley's wife Carol, 50, said: “The hedge was there for nearly 100 years and it was beautiful.
“You couldn't even see that this house was here before which shows how much hedgerow has gone.
“I know the council told him to stop but it didn't make any difference.
“A lot of the neighbours think the same as we do.
“When it happened, everyone in the village wondered what was going on because it was so lush and green beforehand and now it's bare.”
The Hedgerow Regulations 1997 are intended to protect important countryside hedges from destruction or damage. Separate laws cover hedges in domestic gardens.
Phillips said he planned to appeal against his conviction, claiming the council had failed to challenge a hedgerow removal notice served by him.
He said: “The land had been neglected for a long period and it was overgrown.
“It was pushing cars across the road as drivers were going past. We went in there to maintain the land.
“I have had no criminal record in my life and the silly thing is that I have only removed a hedgerow.
“But all the way through the council has been unfair. We wrote so much correspondence to them and they never responded.”
A council spokesman said that the sentence should act as a deterrent to other home owners considering removing countryside hedgerows.
He said: “We have a responsibility to protect the environment.
"Hopefully, the successful prosecution sends out a clear message to anyone in similar circumstances to stop before they carry out similar action.
“The consequences of not doing so can be to end up in court.”
Reader views (7)
Mr Phillips is a fool and a vandal and Epping Forest Council are absolutely correct in their action against him.
- Alan Combe, London
I smell overkill here, as well as an amazing lack of communication. But, I wonder, whatever the whys and wherefores - why didn't the landowner merely trim the hedgerow as part of a `before and after` gambit to make his point about "road safety", with a couple of pics sent to the local newspaper and other interested parties as evidence?
- Ted, London
Epping Forrest have a reputation for being an unresponsive council. If Mr Phillips has put the council on notice the hedge needs some work and they have failed to respond then they are contributory to his action.
Further if he was maintaining road safety because the council failed in it duty to do so the he would have reasonable claim against the council for any losses he has incurred due to accidents. Lastly if the exit from his land was so dangerous that it was unsafe to make a normal exit by car of on foot and again he has put the council on notice about this position he would be reasonable in taking any necessary action to protect his health and safety.
My suggestion, appeal and get a good barrister !
- Jack, London Junta of Epping
People like Phillips should be recognised for what they are: vandals and killers of wildlife. They should live in flats in built up town centres and not have the opportunity to go around ruining the countryside (in his case, his given excuse was apparently to protect passing cars). Alas, so many people think and act like Phillips. It is so easy to destroy, so difficult to build. And oddly, it is semi rural areas like Abridge that command such huge property prices. The prices ultimately go down when the hedges and trees and fields go down.
- Helen, norwich
If this is the one on Hoe Lane then it really needed sorting, the amount of fly-tipped rubbish made it a right eye-sore. Green? Lush? What a joke. I went to visit a friend, travelling by bicycle, and nearly got hit by a car straddling the road. He's done the council a favour by clearing it all up.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
"the silly thing is that I have only removed a hedgerow"
Failing completely to understand the importance of hedgerows on native wildlife, I hope they've also ordered him to replace it out of his own pocket?
- Bob, Cheam
And a good job too. Local Councils are often, rightly, criticised for their slow, ponderous and strange decisions when considering such things as planning applications, but when it comes to protecting the rural landscape, whether it be buildings, ancient hedgerows or mature trees, they need the full weight of the law behind them. Mr Phillips should be made to replant the hedgerow without delay, and if he fails to do so the Council should take further legal action to recover the cost of doing so.
- Pete, Banstead, Surrey
