UK retirees win five-year ‘war’ over untrimmed hedge

By
Orana Durney-Benson
July 31, 2025

A retired couple in Scotland have claimed victory in a years-long feud with their neighbour over an “overbearing” hedge. 

Pensioners Keith and Julie Smith have lived in Prestonfield, an outer suburb of Edinburgh, for over four decades. 

Next door to them live David Hunter and Niena Hunter Mistry. The two properties are divided by a five-metre-high cypress hedge. 

The Smiths believe the hedge has an “overbearing effect” on their property.

A tall cypress tree is at the centre of the dispute. Photo: Keith Smith / Facebook

In 2020, the couple applied to the local council for a High Hedge Notice (HHN) that would force their neighbours to trim the hedge. 

The Edinburgh Council refused to grant the HHN, claiming the hedge did not negatively impact their property. 

The Smiths appealed the decision with the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA), a Scottish Government agency, which ultimately sided with them. 

The DPEA ordered the Hunters to trim the hedge down to 2.6 metres, Edinburgh Live reported. 

The disagreement quickly escalated into an all-out feud. The Smiths allege the Hunters placed tall ladders and metal pipes where the hedges used to be. 

They also claim the Hunters insulted them with strong language, leading the couple to feel “anxious” and “scared” to enter their garden.

In June 2024, police were called to the neighbourhood after hearing news of a “disturbance”. 

The Hunters complied with the trim order, but one cypress tree was left at its full height. 

The Smiths claimed the tree formed part of the offending hedge, but the Hunters insisted it did not. 

The Scottish Government ultimately ruled the tree was part of the hedge, and would need to be trimmed to 2.5 metres. 

“During one period of sunshine, I observed that the disputed tree casts shadow over a significant proportion of the neighbouring property’s rear garden,” The Scottish Sun quoted Amanda Chisolm, an official or reporter with the Scottish government, as saying.

“In any case, the varied high hedge notice applies to the hedge as a whole, which has already been found to adversely affect this property’s reasonable enjoyment.” 

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