FixMyStreet report / Complaint update – Overgrown hedge obstructing footway

Location: Knole Lane, Brentry (footpath adjacent to hedge shown in photographs) Issue type: Overgrown vegetation obstructing public footway Risk: Accessibility, pedestrian safety, disability access Description I am reporting severe and ongoing overgrowth of the hedge along the public footway on Knole Lane, Brentry, as shown in the attached photographs. Despite repeated reports in 2022, 2023 and 2024, this hedge has never been properly trimmed back to the highway boundary. The footpath is now significantly narrowed, forcing pedestrians into a constricted channel and creating a particular hazard for: wheelchair users, people with mobility impairments, parents with pushchairs, and pedestrians walking near live traffic. This issue directly contradicts assurances provided by Bristol City Council in a response dated 19 November 2024, which stated that: “the worst of the overgrowth has been cut back by Parks on a routine programme of Highway owned land” and that the road is “inspected on a routine programme”. The current condition of the footpath demonstrates that this has not been effectively carried out, or that inspections are not resulting in sustained remedial action. Statutory and policy basis Highways Act 1980 – Section 130 The Council has a duty to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of the highway, including footways kept free from obstruction. Highways Act 1980 – Section 154 Where vegetation overgrows from adjoining land and obstructs or endangers highway users, the highway authority has powers and duties to require cutting back, regardless of whether the land is public or private. Equality Act 2010 – Sections 20 and 29 Public authorities must take reasonable steps to ensure services and public spaces are accessible and do not place disabled people at a substantial disadvantage. A narrowing footpath caused by unmanaged vegetation is a clear accessibility failure. Well-managed Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice (UK) Requires inspection and maintenance regimes to be risk-based, proportionate, and effective, not merely recorded. Key point Whether the hedge is on highway land or private land is immaterial to the public impact. The effect is an obstructed public footway, which remains unresolved despite multiple years of reporting and a formal assurance in November 2024. What is requested Immediate cutting back of the hedge to the full highway boundary along the affected section of Knole Lane. Confirmation of responsibility (Highways / Parks / private land with Section 154 notice). Clarification of inspection and enforcement process, given repeated failure to resolve this issue despite prior assurances. Assurance that this will be addressed as an ongoing maintenance issue, not a one-off trim. Additional context This report follows a wider formal complaint concerning environmental maintenance and inspection standards on pedestrian routes in Brentry and Southmead. Repeated partial or cosmetic interventions, followed by administrative closure, are a recurring problem. This footpath is becoming progressively less accessible and poses a foreseeable risk. I am therefore requesting that this report is treated seriously and resolved properly