150.Failure to comply with a remedial notice is a criminal offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. There is also provision for daily fines if the requisite work remains outstanding following a court order.
151.This applies section 289 of the Public Health Act 1936 with modifications to allow the owner of the land where the hedge is situated, rather than the occupier or another person with an interest in the land, to comply with a remedial notice.
152.This section gives the local authority power to enter the neighbouring land and carry out the works specified in the remedial notice, if the owner or occupier of the land fails to comply with its requirements. It will be open to the authority to exercise these powers whether or not criminal proceedings are brought under section 75. The costs of this work can then be recovered from the owner or occupier of the land. Any unpaid expenses would (until recovered) be registered as a local land charge. When exercising these powers, the local authority must give 7 days' notice of their intended entry on to the land.
153.Where offences are committed by bodies corporate, proceedings may, in certain circumstances, be taken against individual officers as well as against the body corporate.