I WOULD like to support the comments from John Elliott on July 26.

When I walked home from Stonehouse station on a Wednesday, refuse collection day, I was forced to step into the road repeatedly as a result of the combination of overgrown hedges and wheelie bins in front of houses.

The boundary of each property is clear from a wall or wire netting, but their hedges had gradually grown over the wall or through the netting.

Many of these hedges are maintained immaculately, and I am sure that the occupants would be horrified to think that they could be causing a nuisance or committing an offence.

However, the law is clear.

Section 137 of the Highways Act states that “the wilful obstruction of someone using a Public Right of Way is a criminal offence”.

A Public Right of Way includes both footpaths and the road, but on my walk I saw hedges which protruded so far over the tarmac that it would limit the maintenance or repair which was badly needed.

The cutbacks in funding suggest that it is hopeless to wait for the councils to deal with hedge cutting, so it is down to occupants to take responsibility for their own hedges now that the bird nesting season is coming to an end.

Given our current time of austerity and that I cannot deal with tarmac, I am happy to look after my own hedges and hope that this will release a little more money to maintain the roads.

J Graham

King’s Stanley