Call to protect English hedgerows

VITAL FOR WILDLIFE: English hedgerows - the stitching in the countryside's patchwork quilt. Picture: CPRE

CPRE wants to see tougher and simpler legislation
August 2010: New research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) finds that more hedgerows then ever before are now being protected (42 per cent) with an 18 per cent increase since CPRE's last survey in 1998. However, despite this seemingly positive news, the overall length of England's managed hedgerows fell by 26,000 km (six per cent) between 1998 and 2007.

In its report ‘England's hedgerows: don't cut them out!' CPRE is calling for the current Hedgerows Regulations, which protect important hedgerows, to be improved. The charity wants the regulations to be amended to give local authorities more powers to protect hedgerows that are valued in their local landscape but may not meet the narrow qualification criteria to be deemed ‘important' under the current regulations.

A third of respondents to a CPRE local authority survey said that this was the most important improvement that could be made to the regulations. And 42 per cent of local councils said that the most important change they wanted to see is for hedgerow protection rules to be made simpler.

Regulations are working - but more improvements are needed
Emma Marrington, Rural Policy Campaigner for CPRE, says: ‘Hedgerows are one of the most iconic features of the English landscape and it's important we do everything we can to halt and reverse their loss and degradation. Our survey shows that the Hedgerows Regulations have made a positive difference, but it also makes clear that improvements can and should be made.

‘Local authorities have shown that, given the opportunity, they will protect these wonderful examples of our rural heritage. It's over a decade since the introduction of the Hedgerows Regulations and the time is ripe for the new Government to make improvements that will give local authorities the power they need to better protect the great diversity of England's hedgerows.'

Vital stitching in countryside's patchwork quilt
Hedgerows are the vital stitching in the patchwork quilt of the English countryside. Some pre-date Agincourt and others bestride earth backs built more than 4,000 years ago by Bronze Age Britons. They lend beauty and character to the landscape, and provide many wider environmental benefits, including important habitats for a wide range of wildlife species. It is a criminal offence to remove an important hedgerow, with possible fines of up to £5,000. However, as management of hedgerows has declined, many are being lost not only to removal, but as they degenerate into lines of trees and shrubs.

Hedgerows are the most widespread semi-natural habitat in England. Over large parts of the lowlands they are the main surviving habitat of this kind and are critical to the existence of numerous plants and animals.

Emma Marrington concluded: ‘The Hedgerows Regulations are proving themselves as an effective means of protecting England's important hedgerows and with the right improvements they can be even better. As ready-made corridors for wildlife to move through the landscape, they should be a critical tool in the landscape-scale conservation of our natural environment that the new Government wants to see.'