Oxford residents will be charged £450 if they ask the city council to settle neighbour disputes over high hedges -- £50 less than those in the west of the county, but £130 more than people living in the Cherwell district.

Since Wednesday, new legislation in the Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 means warring householders can request council intervention in wrangles over towering hedges.

Previously powerless to act in such arguments, councils can now step in to determine if a hedge's height is unreasonable and, where necessary, serve an order on the owner saying what must be done to resolve the problem.

Failure to comply could result in a £1,000 fine.

Michael Crofton-Briggs, Oxford City Council's head of planning, said it had calculated a fee midway between the county's other district councils, but hoped the high cost would encourage neighbours to settle their own disputes.

"Only when initial avenues of sorting out disputes face-to-face have failed will it be appropriate to ask the council to adjudicate," he said.

Kieron Mallon, Cherwell District Council's executive member for the environment, said his council's £320 fee reflected the cost of providing the service, but he said the legislation was ill-thought out, adding: "It is the only law I have come across where the abused has to pay for justice."

Trevor Hines, of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: "The new laws should overcome many of the hedge disputes which break out between neighbours. Everybody should have the 'right to light' and this legislation recognises that excessively high and unruly hedges can block daylight and impact on quality of life."

Patrick Karney, of Mediation Oxfordshire, backed the new legislation saying: "Boundary problems can get out of control and cause permanent damage.

"Anything which can solve a dispute at a lower cost is a good thing."