A Scots couple have lost a battle to have their neighbour's 32ft hedge chopped down after they claimed it was a fire risk.
Heather and Chris Purvis said towering trees owned by Angela and Gavin Nurse made their lives a misery in Dunfermline, Fife. They claimed the hedge kept their garden in darkness - and a previous fire left them terrified they were living beside a 'tinderbox in waiting'.
Under high hedge legislation, the couple - who say their mental health is being impacted by the trees - turned to Fife Council in a bid to have them lopped. However, they were left devastated when officials knocked their application back.
They appealed to the Scottish Government but have now had that bid rejected. The Nurses insisted their trees were not an issue and offered them privacy as well as being a haven for nesting birds.
They also denied allegations the trees posed a fire risk. In a letter to the government, Mrs Purvis said: "The front hedge is blocking sunlight in the summer months to our side aspect, which we want to develop into a garden terrace area.
"In the summer months we sit outside and enjoy the long summer light evenings. In the winter months we get no sunlight at all, and daylight is very limited, the ground cement finish is covered with green algae."
She added: "We also must consider the fire risk in all of this, these trees caught fire in June 2019. "With all the trees and wooden fencing surrounding both properties this is a tinderbox in waiting.
"We also have the aspect of the high winds that we have had to endure in the winter/autumn months recently, with the hedging being unmaintained for such a long period, God knows what would happen to us or our property."
Responding to the appeal, Mrs Nurse said: "It is impossible for the hedge to block sunlight and it cannot impact how their garden can be used.
"Their back garden enjoys plenty of sun throughout the majority of the day. It isn't our trees that block sun but the trees at the back of their own house.
"Our trees give us a very private enclosed back garden, we prefer the trees to grow naturally to allow birds to nest and do not like tightly trimmed conifer hedges."
Rejecting the appeal bid, government reporter Philip McLean said: "I find that the three high hedges do not adversely affect the enjoyment that an occupant could reasonably expect to have, either individually or cumulatively. No action is therefore warranted to reduce the height of any of the hedges."
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