← All guides · Rules & paperwork · October 2026

Removing a rural hedge: what the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 actually require

Plenty of people know that you need permission to cut down a tree in a conservation area, or that the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 governs nest disturbance. Far fewer know that removing a rural hedge in England carries its own separate legal requirement, one that catches out farmers and landowners around Shepherdswell and Coldred every few years. The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 are the rule, and the process is a 42-day notification to Dover District Council before any removal work begins.

Before

The typical situation I see: a working farm between Shepherdswell and Eythorne needs to widen a field-access track, and a short section of hawthorn boundary hedge is in the way. The farmer owns the hedge, the hedge is not in a conservation area, no tree preservation order touches it, and no one has ever mentioned any other legal restriction. The contractor is booked, the flail mower is lined up, and the root-and-stump is grubbed out one October morning. A few weeks later a letter arrives from Dover District Council. The hedge removal was an offence under the Hedgerows Regulations 1997. The council had received a report, the hedge met the criteria for an "important" hedgerow under Schedule 1 of the Regulations, and the removal was unlawful.

After

The same farm, a different boundary hedge, a few years on. This time the farmer knows the process. A hedgerow removal notice is submitted to Dover District Council at least 42 days before any work starts, on the required form, with a plan showing the hedge location and the reason for removal. The council checks the hedge against the Schedule 1 "important hedgerow" criteria: species count, age, whether it marks a historic parish boundary, proximity to a scheduled monument. In this case the hedge was a relatively young mixed planting, fewer than seven woody species, no historical significance. The council's 42-day window passes without a retention notice. The hedge is removed legally, the track is widened, and there is no enforcement action.

What the Regulations actually say

The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/1160) require the owner, or tenant in the case of a farm business tenancy, to notify the local planning authority before removing a qualifying hedgerow. The local planning authority for rural land in and around Shepherdswell is Dover District Council.

A hedgerow qualifies if it:

• is on or bordering agricultural land, common land, forestry land, or land used for breeding or keeping horses; and
• is at least 20 metres long (or shorter if continuous with another qualifying hedgerow).

Garden hedges are not covered, even if they border a field. The hedge between your garden and a neighbour's garden, or the hedge that lines your front drive, is outside the Regulations. The hedge running along the edge of an arable field is inside them.

The 42-day notification process

Before removing any qualifying hedgerow, you submit a written hedgerow removal notice to Dover District Council, usually via the planning department. The notice must include a plan showing the hedgerow's location, the length to be removed, and the reason for the proposed removal. Once the council receives a valid notice, the 42-day clock starts.

Within those 42 days the council assesses whether the hedgerow is "important" under Schedule 1 of the Regulations. If it is, the council serves a hedgerow retention notice, which prevents removal for up to two years. If the council does nothing within 42 days, or if it writes to say the hedgerow is not important, the removal can proceed.

There are some categories of work that do not need a notice at all: routine management such as annual trimming, coppicing, and hedge-laying is outside the Regulations entirely. The Regulations apply only to the permanent removal or destruction of the hedgerow itself.

What makes a hedgerow "important"

This is the part most people have never read. Schedule 1 of the Regulations sets out the criteria. A hedgerow is important if it has existed for 30 years or more and meets at least one of the following:

• Species count. Seven or more woody species counted in a 30-metre section. For a hedgerow longer than 30 metres, the count is taken from the central 30 metres. (There are additional tests at lower species counts if the hedge has particular associated features such as a bank, ditch or parallel hedge within 15 metres.)
• Historical boundary. The hedgerow marks a pre-1850 parish or township boundary.
• Scheduled monuments. The hedgerow runs alongside or forms the boundary of a scheduled ancient monument or the site of a listed building.
• Rare or protected species. The hedgerow is a habitat for a species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 or the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.
• Woodland indicator plants. The hedgerow contains a specified number of woodland indicator plant species from Schedule 1's listed 57 species, measured on average across 30-metre sections.

The North Downs chalk landscape around Shepherdswell is old field country: many of the farmland hedgerows running between Coldred, Barfrestone and Eythorne follow boundaries that are centuries old, and some mark the original chalk-downland strip-field system that predates enclosure. The "pre-1850 parish boundary" criterion alone catches a significant number of the field hedgerows in this area. When in doubt, the only reliable answer is to submit the notice and let the council check.

The Regulations and the nesting season

The Hedgerows Regulations and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 operate independently but they overlap in practice. Even where a hedgerow removal is legally permitted under the Regulations, the removal is still subject to the WCA 1981's prohibition on disturbing active nests during the nesting season (broadly 1 March to 31 August, with risk extending into September). A legal removal that takes out active nests is still a WCA offence. The farmland hedgerows around Shepherdswell carry real nesting interest: yellowhammer, linnet and turtle dove are all recorded in this part of Dover District. Scheduling any hedgerow removal work for November to February, once nesting season is well past and before the next season begins, is the straightforward way to keep both sets of law satisfied at once.

What I actually do when a removal job comes in

I will not start a hedgerow removal job in a rural setting without first establishing whether the Regulations apply and, if they do, whether the removal notice has been submitted and the 42-day window has passed. The consequences of getting this wrong fall on the landowner, not the contractor, but I have no interest in being involved in an unlawful removal. If you are coming to me with a hedgerow removal and you have not yet served notice, the first thing I will say is: let's work out whether the Regulations cover this hedge before anyone books a machine.

Sources: Hedgerows Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/1160), Schedule 1 (legislation.gov.uk); Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1; Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017; Dover District Council planning guidance (dover.gov.uk).