Provided you have tried and exhausted all other avenues for resolving your hedge dispute, you are able to take your complaint about a neighbour's evergreen hedge to your local authority.

The role of the authority is not to mediate or negotiate between the complainant and the hedge owner but to adjudicate on whether - in the words of the Act - the hedge is adversely affecting the complainant's reasonable enjoyment of their property. In doing so, the authority must take account of all relevant factors and must strike a balance between the competing interests of the complainant and hedge owner, as well as the interests of the wider community.

For further information on high Hedges, please see the following useful link. 

What is the High Hedges legislation

How to make a formal high hedges complaint

• Download and complete the High Hedges complaint form and return it to us by post or email (quote), including any supporting documents (details can be found in the notes at the end of the form).
• Pay the fee of £363

Making a payment

• Telephone – please contact our Customer Services Team who will be happy to take your details and get our secure payment line to call you for all debit/credit card payments
• By BACS (Bankers’ Automated Clearing System.) – please contact our Customer Services who can provide you with our account details
• By Cheque – cheques made payable to Sandwell MBC

If a Remedial Notice is served

• Under the High Hedges legislation, the hedge owner or occupier of the land where the hedge is situated must carry out the works specified in the Remedial Notice, within the set timescale.
• Failure to carry out works specified by a Remedial notice may result in prosecution and a fine.
• In some cases the council could decide to carry out the work itself and then recover the costs from the hedge owner. However, the council is under no obligation to do this, and the decision to do so will be purely at our discretion.
• The Remedial Notice does not give the complainant any right to take action against the hedge themselves.