OUR HEDGE

We have a hedge and it is ancient and lovely.  Lovely to look at but not great to cut as it is about 12 foot tall and 8 foot wide in places.  Peter and I (mainly Peter) used to cut it ourselves but now we get someone younger, fitter and with less fear to do it for us.  The bit on the hill is especially tricky and risky!

We worry about the hedge because there are 4 other gardens that share it.  Presumably it is difficult for them to cut it too – although each of them only has a little bit compared to us.  We worry that someday someone will get fed up cut a chunk out of it and replace it with a fence, or a wall, or a little leylandii hedge or some such.  I don’t think they really can, as it is “our” hedge but who knows?  Someday we might come home and it could be gone.  There is legislation around this.  When a hedge sits along the boundary between 2 properties both landowners need to be in agreement before it is removed.  Removing it without the neighbour’s permission is illegal.   If a boundary hedge is removed without permission, the unhappy neighbour can choose to take the “remover” to court.

There is very little left of the original field hedge in the gardens near us, but up towards Churchill there is a good chunk of it remaining.  It really is old.   Here are some maps - and presumably the hedge was there before the first of these was produced.

Hedge 1846 -1862 

Hedge 1919-1963


And modern day

With this in mind I thought it would be a good idea to get a preservation order for our hedge to give it a bit of extra protection.  Like a preservation order for trees.

Unfortunately this is not a thing.  According to RSPB NI, garden hedges do not have any specific protection and the landowner is more of less free to do whatever they like in terms of management and removal with the only real constraints relating to nesting birds and the shared boundary responsibilities outlined above.   In fact the High Hedges Act (NI) 2011 was introduced to deal with issues between neighbours arising from evergreen and semi-evergreen hedges of 2m or that act as barriers to light on residential properties.  Basically the opposite of what I was hoping for.  Our hedge is semi-evergreen – privet, hawthorn, blackthorn, flowering current, ivy etc - and is definitely over 2M but, thankfully it doesn’t act as a barrier to light.

Maybe we could plant a tree in the hedge and get a tree preservation order for it? It would be difficult to make a viable case.   I think that, other than relying on the goodness of our neighbours, the only thing we can do is identify some flora or fauna that is protected.  Under NI Conservation Regulations (2007) it is an offence to deliberately disturb a protected animal in a way that is likely to impair its ability to survive, breed or reproduce or to damage or destroy a breeding site or resting place of such an animal.  For example if there is evidence of bat or otter activity on the site all work must cease immediately, and advice sought from the NI Environment Agency. 

We have occasionally seen otters in the river - never yet in the hedge.  We could exploit bats though - we have seen plenty of bats!   Must get Alice out some warm summer night with her flashy camera to get the evidence.  Apart from staying on good terms with our neighbours (who are actually lovely) I don’t think there are any other options.

 

 

 




Comments

  1. CarolFebruary 14, 2022 at 4:02 PM

    Lovely! You could pop some bat boxes into the hedge.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BridgetFebruary 15, 2022 at 9:37 AM

    This is the most interesting thing ever. Your hedge is amazing and very high. So many places where there could be a rule to help but there isn't one. Fingers crossed really isn't it? X

    ReplyDelete
  3. 500 wordsFebruary 17, 2022 at 9:36 AM

    Maybe you could send a little pamphlet to the neighbours about the hedge - and encourage them to look after it!

    ReplyDelete

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