The High Court refused James Harden’s application for an interim injunction to prevent Limerick County Council and its area engineer, Dermot Lambe, from cutting a hedge beside his home and garage near the Tralee Road in Adare. The refusal concerned the injunction application only; the underlying action remains to be dealt with.
Mr Justice T. C. Smyth said the evidence before him did not establish a basis for an injunction. He was satisfied, on the affidavit evidence, that the council had acted in accordance with its statutory duties, but made no final determination on that issue and specifically did not decide whether damage had been caused in 2006.
The dispute followed hedge cutting by the council in July 2006. The council said the hedge had encroached onto the public road and created an “immediate and serious” hazard to pedestrians and vehicles. Mr Harden claimed damage to his property. His demand rose from €200 to €742 and then €1,000; the council denied that its cutting had caused damage.
The council wrote to Mr Harden in June 2007 asking him to contact it about further cutting. The judgment records the council’s position that the letter was not a statutory notice and that, if such notice were issued, an owner or occupier could appeal to the District Court. The council argued the High Court proceedings were premature. The judge did not rule on the final merits of that position.
After visiting the site with the parties, the judge observed a bottleneck entrance and overgrown hedge growth that, in his view, could create a serious problem for emergency services if traffic were present. He concluded the public safety issue took precedence over keeping the hedge as it stood and said it would be inappropriate at this stage to prohibit the defendants from exercising whatever statutory rights they had under the Roads Act.
The judgment also records Mr Harden’s concern about the boundary and the possibility that maps or plans, and perhaps an engineer’s assistance, might be needed at trial. The court directed him to deliver a statement of claim within 21 days, with the defendants to file a defence within the following 21 days.