Hedgerows Regulations 1997
| Year | 1997 |
1997 No. 1160
COUNTRYSIDE
The Hedgerows Regulations 1997
Made 24th March 1997
Coming into force 1st June 1997
The Secretary of State for the Environment and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, acting jointly as respects England, and the Secretary of State for Wales, as respects Wales, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 97 of the Environment Act 19951, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, having undertaken the consultations required by section 97(6) of that Act, hereby make the following Regulations, a draft of which has been laid before, and has been approved by resolution of, both Houses of Parliament:
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 and shall come into force on 1st June 1997.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“the 1990 Act” means the Town and Country Planning Act 19902;
“the 1995 Act” means the Environment Act 1995;
“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock (including any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur, or for the purposes of its use in the farming of land), the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes, and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly;
“agricultural holding” has the same meaning as in the Agricultural Holdings Act 19863;
“common land” has the same meaning as in the Commons Registration Act 19654, and references to common land include town or village green within the meaning of that Act;
“farm business tenancy” has the same meaning as in the Agricultural Tenancies Act 19955;
“gap”, in relation to a hedgerow6, means any opening (whether or not it is filled);
“hedgerow removal notice” means a notice under regulation 5(1)(a);
“hedgerow retention notice” means a notice referred to in regulation 5(2);
“local planning authority”, except in paragraph 5(b)(ii) of Part II of Schedule 1, means—
(a) as regards land within a National Park, the National Park Authority for that Park7,
(b) as regards land within the Broads, within the meaning of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988, the Broads Authority8,
(c) as regards the Isles of Scilly, the Council of the Isles of Scilly,
(d) as regards any other land in England, the district planning authority within the meaning of the 1990 Act,
(e) as regards any other land in Wales, the county council or county borough council;
“notice” means notice in writing;
“owner”—
(a) in relation to a hedgerow growing on any land which comprises part of an agricultural holding or which is subject to a farm business tenancy, means the person who owns the freehold of the land or the tenant;
(b) in relation to a hedgerow growing on any other land, means the person who owns the freehold of the land,
and “owns the freehold” means is entitled, otherwise than as a mortgagee not in possession, to dispose of the fee simple;
“protected land” means—
(a) land managed as a nature reserve in pursuance of section 21 (establishment of nature reserves by local authorities) of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 19499,
(b) land in relation to which a notification under section 28 (areas of special scientific interest) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 198110is in force;
“relevant utility operator”, in relation to any hedgerow, means—
(a) any person who holds a licence granted under section 6 of the Electricity Act 198911(power to grant licences for the generation, transmission or supply of electricity) and who wishes to remove or, as the case may be, removes the hedgerow in question for the purpose of carrying out any activity authorised by that licence;
(b) any person who holds a licence granted or treated as granted under section 7 of the Gas Act 198612(power to grant licences for the conveyance of gas through pipes) and who wishes to remove or, as the case may be, removes the hedgerow in question for the purpose of carrying out any activity authorised by that licence;
(c) any person who holds a licence granted under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 198413(power to licence telecommunications systems) which applies to him the telecommunications code contained in Schedule 2 to that Act and who wishes to remove or, as the case may be, removes the hedgerow in question in pursuance of a right conferred by the telecommunications code and in accordance with the provisions of his licence;
(d) a sewerage undertaker or a water undertaker which wishes to remove or, as the case may be, removes the hedgerow in question for the purpose of carrying out its functions, within the meaning of the Water Industry Act 199114.
(2) In these Regulations a reference to a numbered regulation or Schedule is to the regulation in, or Schedule to, these Regulations which is so numbered and a reference in a regulation or Schedule to a numbered paragraph, or in a paragraph to a numbered sub-paragraph, is to a paragraph or sub-paragraph of that regulation, Schedule or paragraph.
(3) Part I of Schedule 1 shall have effect for the purposes of interpretation of that Schedule, and Schedules 2 and 3 shall have effect for the purposes of that Part.
Application of Regulations
3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), these Regulations apply to any hedgerow growing in, or adjacent to, any common land, protected land, or land used for agriculture, forestry or the breeding or keeping of horses, ponies or donkeys, if—
(a)
(a) it has a continuous length of, or exceeding, 20 metres; or
(b)
(b) it has a continuous length of less than 20 metres and, at each end, meets (whether by intersection or junction) another hedgerow.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), a hedgerow is also one to which these Regulations apply if it is a stretch of hedgerow forming part of a hedgerow such as is described in paragraph (1).
(3) These Regulations do not apply to any hedgerow within the curtilage of, or marking a boundary of the curtilage of, a dwelling-house.
(4) A hedgerow which meets (whether by intersection or junction) another hedgerow is to be treated as ending at the point of intersection or junction.
(5) For the purposes of ascertaining the length of any hedgerow—
(a)
(a) any gap resulting from a contravention of these Regulations; and
(b)
(b) any gap not exceeding 20 metres,
shall be treated as part of the hedgerow.
Criteria for determining “important” hedgerows
4. For the purposes of section 97 (hedgerows) of the Environment Act 1995 and these Regulations, a hedgerow is “important” if it, or the hedgerow of which it is a stretch,—
(a) has existed for 30 years or more; and
(b) satisfies at least one of the criteria listed in Part II of Schedule 1.
Removal of hedgerows
5.—(1) Subject to the exceptions specified in regulation 6, the removal15of a hedgerow to which these Regulations apply is prohibited unless—
(a)
(a) the local planning authority in whose area the hedgerow is situated or, where it is situated in the area of more than one such authority, the local planning authority in whose area the greater part of the hedgerow is situated, have received from an owner of the hedgerow (subject to paragraph (10)) notice in the form set out in Schedule 4, or a form substantially to the same effect, of his proposal to remove the hedgerow (“hedgerow removal notice”) together with the plan and evidence mentioned in the form set out in Schedule 4; and
(i) (b)
(i) (b) the authority have given to the person who gave the hedgerow removal notice written notice stating that the hedgerow may be removed; or
(ii) the period specified in paragraph (6) has expired without the authority having given to that person a hedgerow retention notice stating that the work may not be carried out; and
(c)
(c) the removal is carried out in accordance with the proposal specified in the hedgerow removal notice; and
(d)
(d) the hedgerow is removed within the period of two years beginning with the date of service of the hedgerow removal notice.
(2) A local planning authority which has received a hedgerow removal notice shall, consistently with paragraph (5) and within the period specified in paragraph (6), decide whether or not to give notice to that person stating that the work or, where the hedgerow removal notice refers to more than one hedgerow, so much of the work as may be specified by the authority in their notice, may not be carried out (“hedgerow retention notice”).
(3) Where a hedgerow in respect of which the local planning authority has received a hedgerow removal notice is situated in a parish in England for which there is a parish council, or in a community in Wales for which there is a community council, that authority shall consult that council (or, where there is more than one such council, each of them) on the proposal to remove that hedgerow.
(4) The consultation referred to in paragraph (3) shall be completed before the period specified in paragraph (6) expires and before the giving of a notice under paragraph (1)(b)(i) or a hedgerow retention notice.
(5) A local planning authority—
(a)
(a) shall not give a hedgerow retention notice in respect of a hedgerow which is not an “important” hedgerow;
(b)
(b) shall give such a notice, within the period specified in paragraph (6), in respect of an “important” hedgerow unless satisfied, having regard in particular to the reasons given for its proposed removal in the hedgerow removal notice, that there are circumstances which justify the hedgerow’s removal.
(6) The period referred to in paragraphs (1)(b)(ii), (2), (4) and (5)(b) is that of 42 days beginning with the date on which the hedgerow removal notice is received by the local planning authority...
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