A FORMER manager of West Ham football club has been left with his house on full view after his neighbour cut down hedge rows without permission.

Alan Curbishley, who managed West Ham for nearly two years, used to have a hedge row running adjacent to his home on Hoe Lane in Abridge.

But James Philips, who owns the land next door to his house, cut down the hedge row without permission and was fined £6,000 for his actions.

Appearing at Harlow Magistrates Court, Mr Philips was found guilty of three offences of removing hedges and was ordered to pay the fine and the district council's prosecution costs of £5,000.

Mr Curbishley's wife Carol said: “You couldn't see the field before he cut down the hedge and now it's all open.

"I think quite a lot of the neighbours think the same as we do and when it happened everyone in the village thought what's going on here because it was so lush and green beforehand and now it's bare. You couldn't even see that this house was here before which shows how much has gone.

"I know the council told him to stop but it didn't make any difference. I think the hedge was there for nearly 100 years and it was beautiful.”

Mr Philips believes he has been victimised by the council and said he will appeal the decision.

He added: “The land had been neglected for a long period and it was over grown and it was pushing cars across the road as drivers were going down Hoe Lane. We went in there to maintain the land.

"The council came along and served a stop notice and we were told we had to put in a Hedge Row Removal Notice which had to run for 42 days during which time the council had the right to say we couldn't remove the hedge. They let the notice run out and we removed it.”

Council Officers became aware that the hedges had been removed in January 2008 and took Mr Philips to court where a two day trial was heard.

He said: “I don't think the magistrates understood the case and we are going to appeal. I do feel that I have been persecuted by the council and there's all sorts of planning issues and complaints we have made. The site is immaculate as is the road frontage.

"Unfortunately unless you have a lot of money you can't fight these cases and you get bullied. I'm one of those people who thinks that right is right and the truth is the truth. I have had no criminal record in my life and the silly thing is that I have only removed a hedge row. But all the way through the council has been unfair. We wrote so much correspondence to them and they never responded or replied.”

A spokeswoman for the district council said: “We have a responsibility to protect the environment and we make no apologies for doing so.

"Hopefully the successful prosecution sends out a clear message to anyone in similar circumstances to stop before they carry out similar action. The consequences of not doing so can be to end up in court.”