A HOUSING manager was told he "can't go around chopping down hedges willy-nilly" after residents complained about their view being blocked.

Dorcan Way Management Ltd's chairman of directors Ron Rose attended a Stratton St Margaret Parish Council meeting on Wednesday to raise an issue about an overgrown hedge.

He said the hedge was now higher than when the neighbours of Twickenham Close moved in and it was now spoiling their view of the nearby field.

Mr Rose said: "It's been an ongoing problem, ever since it was built, because Swindon Borough Council drew the line in the wrong place and... Stratton had to pick up the pieces.

"We have a fence going round and a hedge around it... that has just got higher and wider."

When it became eight feet high and seven feet wide in places, the top of it could not be reached from the housing side, so Mr Rose asked the parish council for permission to access the field and trim it there.

Open spaces officer Oliver Saunders replied: "You missed out the bit where you hired contractors last year to cut it down without permission.

"We've got over two miles of hedges. I have to find a sweet spot between what's good for the environment, landscape and the people living next to it, which is difficult sometimes because some want a high hedge for security and others want low ones for the view.

"To give everyone what they want is impossible, so in this particular instance, I've chosen the height of the hedge.

"You illegally reduced it by around half a metre. I've agreed we will retain it at that height because I think that's a good compromise. As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it."

Mr Rose thought he had not been doing anything wrong and that the workers had the necessary insurance and accreditation.

One resident at the meeting said: "It's more like 12ft high now, we do not want to live with that, it's overhanging, it's a disgrace."

Mr Saunders added: "If people were not happy with it, I would reduce the hedge but I've spoken to other residents who like it. I can't allow residents to pick and choose their own land management and send contractors onto public land to cut hedges willy-nilly."

Coun Joe Tray suggested that Mr Rose and Mr Saunders could meet to resolve this disagreement with ward councillors acting as mediators.