According to a study by local services marketplace Airtasker, Brighton and Hove recorded the second highest number of complaints about gardens of all UK towns and cities.
Airtasker submitted Freedom of Information requests to every local authority across the UK.
Only London, with 1,333 complaints in 12 months, had more than Brighton and Hove, which had 452 complaints.
These complaints were predominantly about overhanging trees and bushes, and exceeded those from more populated cities such as Liverpool and Manchester, which had 341 and 312 complaints respectively.
Other common complaints in Brighton included overgrown gardens, unruly hedges, and rubbish accumulation.
More specifically, data indicated that of all the postcodes in the UK, none had more complaints about gardens than BN2, which had 222 complaints in 12 months between May 1, 2023 and May 1, 2024.
The postcode with the second highest number of complaints was also a Brighton one, BN1, which saw 196 complaints in the 12 month period.
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If you have a complaint about high hedges, you can fill out an official high hedges complaint form and submit it to Brighton and Hove City Council.
The council advises: “You must be the owner or occupier of the property affected by a high hedge in order to make a formal complaint to the council.
“If you do not own the property (e.g., because you are a tenant or a leaseholder), you can still make a complaint.
“However, you should let the owner (e.g., landlord or management company) know what you are doing.
“The property does not have to be wholly residential but must include separate living accommodation; otherwise, we cannot consider the complaint.
“We cannot consider problems that are not connected with the height of the hedge.
“Nor can we consider things that are not directly about the hedge in question.
“For example, that other people keep their hedges trimmed to a lower height, or that the worry is making you ill.”
