NTI_DOWSON_HEDGE_06

Roy Dowson (89), with his hedge. Officials have ordered an 89-year-old man to chop down his 136 year-old yew hedge because it overhangs a footpath. See NTI story NTIHEDGE. Roy Dowson, of Burton-by-Lincoln, has been left baffled at Lincolnshire County Council’s demand after a number of pedestrians complained that 100-metre long by 2.5 metres high hedge was blocking the pavement. He said: “The council have ordered me to cut the hedge back to 2ft, level with the wall, and if I do that, it will absolutely wreck it. I’ve been at the property for 40 years and the hedge was planted in 1880 as part of the Burton estate. I have the hedge trimmed every year and I think they’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”