Hedgerow Removal Notice

Most countryside hedgerows cannot simply be grubbed out. Before removing one you usually have to give the council formal notice, a hedgerow removal notice, and wait. If the hedgerow is legally “important”, the council can stop you removing it altogether.

This is a notice, not an application for permission. The council cannot refuse you outright. What it can do, and only where the hedgerow qualifies as important, is serve a notice prohibiting removal. Getting this wrong is a criminal offence, so it is worth understanding before the digger arrives.

 The rules sit in the Hedgerows Regulations 1997, and they are separate from the newer 2024 rules on how hedgerows are managed. If your question is broader than the notice procedure — for example cutting a gateway, trimming a field hedge or removing it as part of an approved development — see our guide to removing a hedge in a field.

 

A hedgerow removal notice, not an application

 

The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 were made under section 97 of the Environment Act 1995 and came into operation in England and Wales on 1 June 1997. They prohibit the removal of most countryside hedgerows without first notifying the local planning authority.

You serve a hedgerow removal notice. The authority then gives one of two responses: it either agrees the hedgerow may go, or, where the hedgerow is important, it serves a hedgerow retention notice prohibiting removal. There is no charge for submitting the notice.

 

Which hedgerows are covered

 

The Regulations apply to a hedgerow if it is at least 20 metres long, or if it is shorter but meets another hedgerow at each end. It must also be growing on, or next to, land used for agriculture or forestry, the keeping of horses or livestock, common land or a village green, a Site of Special Scientific Interest or a Local Nature Reserve.

They do not apply to a hedge within, or marking the boundary of, a private garden. A problem with a neighbour’s tall garden hedge is a different matter entirely. See our guide to high hedges.

Two points of detail catch people out:

• a gap of 20 metres or less counts as part of the hedgerow, so you cannot sidestep the rules by measuring only the leafy stretches
• “removal” is wider than grubbing out, because it covers any act that could result in the destruction of the hedgerow, although normal management such as coppicing, laying and cutting back is exempt

 

The 42-day hedgerow removal notice period

 

Once the authority has received a valid removal notice it has 42 calendar days to respond, unless a longer period is agreed. Within that time it must decide whether to serve a retention notice, and it must consult the parish council (in Wales, the community council) before doing so.

There are two outcomes:

• the authority writes to say the hedgerow may be removed, or the 42 days expire without a retention notice, you may go ahead
• the authority serves a hedgerow retention notice, and removal is prohibited, and you have 28 days to appeal to the Secretary of State, with the Planning Inspectorate handling the appeal on their behalf. That is a much tighter deadline than most planning appeals allow, so diary it the day the notice lands

A hedgerow retention notice is permanent, although the authority can review it if circumstances change.

 

What makes a hedgerow “important”

 

A hedgerow is “important” only if it has existed for 30 years or more and meets at least one of the criteria set out in the Regulations. Those criteria cover archaeological, historical, wildlife and landscape value. Examples include a hedgerow that:

• marks the boundary of a parish or township recorded before 1850
• marks the boundary of, or is associated with, an estate or manor recorded before 1600
• forms an integral part of a field system that pre-dates Parliamentary enclosure
• contains, or is associated with, an archaeological feature or site
• supports certain species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

Where the hedgerow is important, the authority has a duty to serve a retention notice unless it is satisfied that the circumstances justify removal.

 

Offences and replacement

 

It is a criminal offence to intentionally or recklessly remove a hedgerow without first serving a hedgerow removal notice and waiting for written consent or the expiry of the 42 days, and it is an offence to remove one in breach of a retention notice. The offence can be tried in the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court, the fine is unlimited in both, and the court must have regard to any financial benefit gained from the removal.

Where a hedgerow has been removed unlawfully, the authority can require a replacement to be planted. Any replacement hedgerow is automatically treated as “important” for 30 years, so it cannot simply be taken out again.

 

Don’t confuse this with the 2024 rules

 

The Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024, in force from 23 May 2024, are a different thing entirely. They set a baseline for how a hedgerow is managed: a two-metre buffer strip and a cutting ban from 1 March to 31 August inclusive. The 1997 Regulations govern whether you may remove a hedgerow. Complying with one is no defence to a breach of the other.

 

Practical points

 

A hedgerow removal notice is not a planning application and the planning fee scales do not apply to it, but if the hedgerow is being removed to enable development, the application for that development will carry its own fee.

• nesting birds are protected all year round under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, quite separately from the hedgerow rules
• the authority keeps a public register of hedgerow removal notices, so objectors can see what has been submitted
• where hedgerow removal is carried out as part of permitted development, a separate prior notification procedure can apply, so check before you start
• the 1997 Regulations extend to England and Wales only, not Scotland or Northern Ireland

See also our guide to the types of planning application.

 

Relevant legislation

 

Planning law changes often. You can check the current wording of the legislation below on the official legislation.gov.uk website – the “Changes to Legislation” panel on each item flags anything not yet applied to the published text:

• The Hedgerows Regulations 1997: the removal notice procedure
• Environment Act 1995, section 97: the power under which the 1997 Regulations were made
• The Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024: the separate hedgerow management rules
• Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981: protection of nesting birds and certain species

 

Other Planning Application Sections

 

 

 

Hedgerow Removal Page Updated: 21st August 2026