Harlow Council has set a fee of £400 for dealing with complaints by residents about their neighbours' high hedges.

Under new Government legislation, all local councils are required to adjudicate on neighbour complaints about high hedges, provided all other ways of resolving the dispute have been tried. The council needs to charge complainants a fee which will cover its costs in providing the service, and Harlow Council's Environment & Community Committee has set this at £400 - a charge described by Conservative councillor Tony Hall as 'quite reasonable'.

Liberal Democrat councillor Lorna Spenceley said she was not convinced that the Government legislation was well thought-out, and also asked why there was no discount proposed for people on low incomes. It was suggested that the question of reductions for poorer households be considered by the council's fees and charges group when the council had some idea of the volume of cases the new legislation was likely to attract.

Residents paying £400 to complain about a neighbour's unruly hedge may of course be less than impressed if the hedge-owner disregards the council's ruling, and is then taken to court and fined less than the £400 paid by the neighbour who complained - a very real possibility under the new system.