PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
SANCTIONS AGAINST GIANT HEDGES (9 December 1998)

That this House welcomes the Government's decision to set up a working group to draw up a voluntary code of practice on providing better information on planting and growing leylandii and similarly fast-growing trees; believes however that some form of statutory protection is required for those whose lives have been blighted by overgrown trees and hedges; suggests that one option might be an amendment to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to allow environmental health officers to judge whether an excessively high hedge constitutes a nuisance; would welcome the flexibility and discretion that such a solution would offer, as well as the subsequent legal action that could be taken to protect victims of giant hedges; and calls on the Government to bolster the objectives of the Working Group to allow consideration of whether such legislative proposals are desirable.

Sponsored by:
Lynne Jones (Labour)