Overgrown bushes at the Goose Green end of Crystal Palace Road

[faresse]

I would never normally moan about something like this; however, having to duck while using the pavement around the blocks on the end of Crystal Palace Road due to the massively overgrown bushes hanging over the fence is becoming seriously annoying. It is normally when I take my little boy (really regularly) to the playground in his buggy, so I cant really just hop onto the road. Does anyone know who manages those blocks? I actually went as far as to email the council to see if someone would cut them back but no luck so far.

[civilservant]

agree, i have to duck under those bushes on my way to the bus stop and i see loads of people with children, buggies, scooter, bicycles etc having to do likewise

there's also an overgrown privet hedge in front of a house halfway down the same stretch of CP Road that encroaches onto half the pavement - bird-nesting season is over so no reason to keep overgrown hedges

i thought that the council had the power to cut-back hedges to clear obstructed pathways - maybe something for new councillor MacAsh?

[Sally Eva]

Report them on fix-my-street. The council monitors it.

They may be reluctant to cut back bushes now because they are often hiding baby birds. Which is a good reason for holding off cutting one's own hedges until the autumn

https://www.fixmystreet.com

[Tractorlad]

I reported these to the council last year as they were obstructing the traffic lights. They quickly took ownership and contacted the land owner to have the issue taken care of.

[adonirum]

Councils have the powers to enforce the cutting back of hedges ie: obstructing the highway, but there is an elongated process that they have to follow.

They have to send a letter to the householder (which, believe it or not, must be addressed to the occupier and not an actual name they hold against the address) giving them xxx time period in which to comply, followed by a reminder, again with xxx time period as before. They can eventually carry out the works themselves and charge this to, and recover from, a named person whom they have identified, through enquiries, as living there and not against "the occupier". Due to data protection, they are not allowed to cross-reference with council tax records for a private household, but can do so with their own housing stock as this (overgrown vegetation) could be seen as a breach of the tenancy agreement. It's all madness that appears to favour the unsociable transgressors, but there we have it, due process and all that.

[FightingFit]

Perhaps someone should just pop round there with some shears and give the bushes a prune instead of this drawn out moaning

[cella]

Presumably whoever lives in the blocks pay a charge for maintenance which includes this sort of stuff. It's surprising that they aren't complaining themselves.

[civilservant]

FightingFit Wrote:

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> Perhaps someone should just pop round there with some shears and give the bushes a prune instead of

> this drawn out moaning

No 'someone' has the right to do that. However, the council must sort it out - they can issue a formal notice for the work to be undertaken, and if that is ignored, they can do the work and charge the owner/occupier.

[KidKruger]

?No 'someone' has the right to do that.?

Shame, 5mins with a petrol hedge trimmer would sort a few of those feckin hedges. Throwing the cutting into the owners? front yards, of course.

[Oopnorthpup]

Just to add another point of view, and with full disclosure I am a resident of these flats, although not ground floor - but I overlook the garden in question. This hedgerow is teemimg with insect and birdlife and for the first time in years we wake to voracious birdsong. Please do not quickly jump to condem and cut back, there is an easily accessible and wide footpath on the other side of the road so would not be inconvinient to leave this wildlife oasis intact.

[cella]

The builders fence has blocked the other side for ages!

[civilservant]

i sympathise entirely with oopnorthpup's wish to keep the wildlife safe and happy in the hedge

all it needs for the hedge to be trimmed back so that people of ordinary height can pass - perhaps you could influence the owner of the hedge to cut it back a bit, as little as possible, before the council come in and do their usual hack job

[Oopnorthpup]

Cella, indeed- the builders opposite have been far from ideal neighbours for the last 18 months, would indeed be great if we could stop them blocking all available parking, parking illegally etc.

[BrandNewGuy]

Any green growth this year that's overhanging the pavement is not going to have nests in it. Trim it back to allow people past, as I assume they've done in the past.

[Elphinstone's Army]

Oopnorthpup Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Just to add another point of view, and with full

> disclosure I am a resident of these flats,

> although not ground floor - but I overlook the

> garden in question. This hedgerow is teemimg with

> insect and birdlife and for the first time in

> years we wake to voracious birdsong. Please do not

> quickly jump to condem and cut back, there is an

> easily accessible and wide footpath on the other

> side of the road so would not be inconvinient to

> leave this wildlife oasis intact.

vociferous - it isn?t a wildlife haven at all but overhanging branches/growth which impede the progress of pedestrians in all their glory and for whom the pavement is intended.

Birds and bugs can move higher along the branches and learn to adapt.

[KidKruger]

"This hedgerow is teemimg with insect and birdlife "

In which case grow the hedge deeper towards the rear, rather than to the front, over the public pavement.

There's a garden behind the hedge which can accommodate deepening of the hedge if that is desired - unlike the pavement !

[civilservant]

it's been sorted - I didn't need to stoop as I went past this morning, and the hedge hasn't been too badly hacked about

I can see that the ground floor flat needs some kind of screen from the street as the garden behind is not a garden at all but more of a strip of land.

[cella]

That's great then - all resolved.