Neighbours at war after their view is blocked by 50ft leylandii trees planted following planning row
They accuse Valerie Vivian of deliberately growing the massive 'barricade'
A LANDMARK immortalised by singer Peter Gabriel is at the centre of a bitter dispute after a neighbour is accused of deliberately blocking views of it with a 50ft hedge.
Val Horton and Betty Kelley chose their hilltop bungalows for the sweeping views of the idyllic countryside and fabled Solsbury Hill.
The 625ft summit outside Bath, Somerset, topped by an Iron Age fort and owned by the National Trust, was the inspiration for Gabriel's first solo single in 1977.
But over the past 15 years their view from some houses has slowly disappeared amid a bitter battle with a neighbour they say is ruining the vista with her giant leylandii.
Valerie Vivian, 70, planted a row of the fast-growing conifers in 2001 in a plot of land she owns in historic Bathampton.
The trees shoot up 3ft a year and need constant maintenance - but for the past 15 years locals say Mrs Vivian hasn't given them the chop once.
They claim she has planted the trees in revenge at repeatedly failing to get planning permission for four detached houses on the plot adjacent to her own £1m property.
Locals have successfully objected to the plans SIX times and claim she has refused to cut them down.
But for the folk of Devonshire Road the leylandii barricade has now obliterated their view of Solsbury Hill.
They have enlisted the support of local Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and the parish council and written dozens of letters to Bath and North East Somerset Council asking for help but to no avail.
Betty, 89, said she is at her wit's end - as the only reason she and husband Derek, who passed away two years ago, bought their bungalow 20 years ago was for the scenery.
She tearfully said: "It was absolutely beautiful, but the view of Solsbury Hill has completely gone.
"We used to be able to see it and that's the only reason my husband bought this bungalow.
"He wanted that view, with a big window to be able to look out at it so that we could feel like we're in the country. But now there's nothing."
Betty, a retired receptionst, added: "I would move if I could, but I'm too old. It hasn't got that open feel anymore - it's like a barricade.
"I want them gone but I can't afford to pay for it. She should absolutely have to pay for it - she put them up, she should take them down."
The 15-year dispute is part of a mammoth 20-year wrangle over planning permission between Mrs Vivian and the rest of Bathampton.
She wants to build houses on a plot of land behind her property - but the proposed development has been refused six times.
Betty's neighbour, Val, who has lived on Devonshire Road since 1971, said: "It is dreadful.
"They were only short when she put them in by they have just grown and grown and grown.
"When there were no conifers it was a wonderful vantage point. It was fantastic - we could sit in our dining room and it was brilliant."
Val, a retired civil servant, added: "This has had a big impact on all of our lives - to look over and see a forest of trees is pretty awful.
Related Stories
"I also have a vegetable patch but I can't grow anything at the very bottom of my garden any more because I get all the needles dropping all the time. I want it put back to how it was."
Under the High Hedges section of the Antisocial Behaviour Act, councils can order offending hedges to be cut if they are a "barrier to light or access".
But for Devonshire Road's residents the law is useless because their gardens still get plenty of sunlight and they don't require access.
It means that Bath and North East Somerset Council have no power to order stubborn Mrs Vivian to give her hedge the chop.
Moira Brennan, chair of Bathampton Parish Council, called for a change in the law.
She said: "The Leylandii are very out of keeping with the village and it is a conservation area so they are not appropriate.
"But the High Hedges Act doesn't apply because they don't shade the properties.
"We have been very supportive of the residents but we are limited in what we can do. In this case, we would like to see a change in the law."
She added: "We all buy our homes and we have no right to a view, but we hope that we are going to be able to have it."
Jacob Rees Mogg, Conservative MP for North East Somerset, said: "I have written to the Council about this issue on several occasions but it is hard for it to intervene in a situation where there is no legislative answer.
"It is essentially a dispute between neighbours which is best resolved through goodwill on both sides."
A Bath and North East Somerset Council spokesman said: "The Council is aware of this issue although no formal complaint has been submitted under the Part 8 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, 2003 - High Hedges.
"This is a civil matter as the Act requires residents to have "taken all reasonable steps to resolve the matters complained of without proceeding by way of such a complaint to the authority".
"The Council has assessed the site against the criteria of the Act and determined that the Council, if requested, could not issue a Remedial Notice."
Mrs Vivian declined to comment.