AN argument over a hedge next to a new south Shropshire care home looks set to be settled next week.
Morris Properties wants to remove the boundary hedge at Stretton Hall, All Stretton.
Next Tuesday, Shropshire Council’s South Planning Committee will consider the application, and planning officers are recommending approval.
But the hedge removal has caused a row in All Stretton, with some locals against its loss.
Church Stretton Town Council objected, stating that removing the line of 15 metre high tree and replacing them with a new much lower fence and hedge would ruin neighbours’ privacy.
Councillor James Gibson, who represents Church Stretton on Shropshire Council, also objected to the plans stating that a Tree Preservation Order should be slapped on the trees that make up the hedge.
Letters of objection to the removal of the hedge had been sent to planners from nine households in All Stretton.
The All Stretton Village Society also objected, stating: “Although leylandi are often used as a hedge, trees of this height cannot be regarded as a hedge.
“They provide a screening barrier between a three storey care home and adjacent properties and their removal would destroy the privacy of neighbours.”
Planning officers said trees largely seen from private property would not normally be eligible for a preservation orders, and added that the hedge would not be eligible for protection under the Hedgerow Regulations because it did not fit the criteria for an “important hedgerow.”
Planners proposed conditions to the hedge removal permission, such as planting a new three metre high continuous yew hedge, and adding two six metre high pines near the north east corner of the care home.
“The proposed planting of the new hedge and trees would represent an appropriate balance between the competing interests in this case,” planning officers concluded.
