Current Petitions

I thank you, convener, and the committee for allowing me to join you for this agenda item. The issue that the petition raises is not solely an urban phenomenon; it exists in my far-flung constituency as well, and my constituents are on to me about it—even those who live in the wee fishing village of Balintore. There is an element of frustration out there because we have been talking about the issue for so long and nothing has been done, although Scott Barrie, who is no longer an MSP, put in some laudable work to advance the situation.I appreciate the point that is made in the papers that the Scottish Government is considering the issue and that the committee should perhaps wait to see what happens. I am very much in the committee's hands. I just wanted to say that the issue is not simply one that affects urban areas; it affects places in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross as well.

I sympathise with Jamie Stone, my colleague from Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross—a constituency that is substantially overgrown by trees. However, that is not the problem. I get complaints about the issue in my constituency of Ross, Skye and Inverness West, where neighbour disputes often develop because of high trees and hedges.Away back in the first session of the Parliament, a petition was lodged that called for the restriction of hedges to a height of 2m—that petition has obviously got lost in the files somewhere. The next time that we debated the subject was when Scott Barrie's proposal for a bill was brought before the Parliament in 2006. A lot of growth has taken place since then, but very little has happened. I hope that the committee will take a firm view on the issue, so that we can have effective legislation to alleviate the problem.