Couple's three-year battle with council over 116-year-old hedge: 'Costing us $50k'
Guranathan Ganeson and his wife were forced to cut down the four-metre hedge.
Residents have been forced to chop down a century-old hedge to mere sticks in their front yard after a three-year-long battle with their local council, with the maintenance work expected to cost them around $50,000.
Guranathan Ganeson and his wife were told their four-metre hedge caused significant obstruction to the footpath just beyond their property in Mont Albert in Melbourne's inner east and Whitehorse City Council has received several complaints about it.
The residents were given the option to either pay to extend the public footpath at the cost of $6,500 or cut down the plant, opting for the latter and more expensive option as they admitted they weren't confident the council "wouldn't come back" to pester them again if the hedge remained where it was.
"The hurdles set by [the] council was getting [more] difficult and difficult," Guranathan told 9News. "There was no guarantee that the council wouldn't come back if the hedge started growing and giving us more work to do."
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Front yard now feels 'empty' ahead of $50,000 maintenance work
It only took four hours for the 116-year-old hedge to be cut back by professional gardeners, with the property now in full view to passersby on the street. Guranathan said he could feel the absence of the hedge, even once the last trimmings had been swept away.
"It feels empty. It feels that something that belongs there is not there anymore," he said.
The hedge removal cost the couple $3,500 and alongside the $2,500 fee for the current fence removal, $500 fence planning permit, $27,000 for a new fence and additional costs, he reckons the entire project will come at a steep price.
"By [the] time this joke is finished it's costing us $50,000," he said, urging other residents to learn from the ordeal. "Look at the situation and just try to work it out like normal human beings."
Yahoo News has reached out to Whitehorse City Council for comment.
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