NEW laws aimed at ending disputes over high hedges have come into force - but Worcester City Council has been criticised for charging £300 to hear complaints.

Households responsible for tall trees and shrubs that blight neighbours' lives could be fined £1,000 under laws that came into force today.

But a city woman opposed to the size of a set of leylandii near her home in Baveney Road, near Hallow Road, has attacked the authority over the size of the charge.

"I'm glad some law is taking the victims into consideration but I think that kind of fee is detrimental to a lot of us," said Sabita Chanda, who has been objecting to the size of Chris and Gloria Chapman's trees for about eight years.

"I think this is putting a lot of pressure on victims."

District councillors from neighbouring Malvern Hills have set a fee of just £50 for fear of putting complainants off. But Paul O'Connor, principal planning officer at the city council, said the £300 fee covered officer work time and was between the £280 to £320 recommended by the Govern-ment. "Unlike a planning application which is about public amenity, this is very much a private amenity. If a complainant was successful it could have private benefit in terms of property value," he said. Mr O'Connor, who knows of about a dozen long-running neighbourly hedge feuds in the city, stressed the new powers would only be used as a last resort.

Miss Chanda said the council was 'shirking' the issue by labelling it as private but still supports the legislation and is considering whether it could resolve her dispute.

"There's nothing I would like more because no one wants to live in this situation as a day-to-day problem," she said.

Wychavon District Council is charging £320 and Wyre Forest District Council £300.

The Chapmans were una-vailable for comment.