Hedge danger angers villagers

Villagers are in despair over a problem with an absentee landlord whose overgrown hedge obstructs a footpath.

Only recently a blind man twisted his ankle after walking into a branch from the hedge and being forced off the pavement, and a father of four walking with one of his children was grazed by the mirror of a passing van.

The hedge is in High Street, Blackboys, between Tickerage Lane and John Dann Close, and is regularly used by children going to and from school. Villagers believe there is a risk of a serious accident.

They claim the owner of the hedge, which borders a field next to the recreation ground, leaves it to grow every year until forced to cut it after the county council starts enforcement action.

On Saturday the owner - who the Express has been unable to contact - went along the hedge with a bill hook and secateurs enraging residents by leaving the cuttings strewn over the path and road.

'It was highly dangerous,' said one resident who called the police. 'Cars were veering all over the road trying to avoid the mess.'

Restore

Now villagers are hoping that the county council will do a proper job in cutting back the hedge, restoring the proper width of their path.

A spokeswoman for East Sussex County Council said it did appear that the work was sub-standard and a contractor would move in to cut it back and then bill the owner.

Mrs Doreen Moon told how her 64-year-old husband Brian, who is blind, was regularly forced off the pavement after walking into the hedge. 'Stepping off the pavement into the road is dangerous in itself but the other day he happened to step down into a drain and twisted his ankle.'

Complained

Mrs Moon said she had complained to the county council's highways department every year for at least seven years and she felt it was time the hedge was cut back properly for the safety of villagers.

Parish clerk Mrs Ann Newton said her husband Rob, a parish councillor, had been hit by the mirror of a passing van as he leaned out over the road to avoid walking into the hedge. He was walking with their son Jamie. 'I am only glad it wasn't Jamie that was hit because it would have been his head that took the impact,' she said.

The Newtons have four children under the age of six and regularly use the footpath. Mrs Newton said that every school day she had a child in tears after being hit in the eye by the hedge.

'I hope that this time the council will move in and cut the hedge. I really hope that this is the year something will be done about the problem.'