We held a public consultation between 29 October and 10 December 2024, about our regulatory approach to enforcing The Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024
The consultation offered farmers, stakeholders, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and members of the public the opportunity to review our draft statutory guidance.
The consultation covered various aspects of RPA’s regulatory approach such as appeals and proportionate enforcement actions. We are grateful for the feedback we’ve received and would like to thank the 175 participants.
Consultation results
Today, we published the formal response to the consultation and the final statutory guidance on RPA’s regulatory approach and the use of civil sanctions.
Our approach to enforcing the hedgerow regulations will remain the same following the consultation.
However, we’ve made changes to the statutory guidance in response to the feedback. We received several responses suggesting that we should improve the examples to illustrate when different types of enforcement actions will be used. We’ve updated the statutory guidance to improve the examples to help make this clearer.
We also received comments seeking clarity on the advice-led approach. We have updated the guidance to explain that in serious cases, civil and criminal sanctions could be used in the first instance, if it is appropriate.
Regulatory approach
We will, in most cases, provide advice and guidance in the first instance before taking enforcement action. In some cases, we may consider civil or criminal sanctions as our immediate response, where needed.
Hedgerow regulations
The new regulations came into force in May 2024.
The regulations set out the responsibilities for protecting hedgerows on or next to agricultural land, by requiring:
- a hedgerow cutting and trimming ban from 1 March to 31 August (inclusive) to protect active bird nests during this time.
To prevent harm to the structure and health of the hedgerow, the regulations also require:
- a 2-metre buffer strip, measured from the centre of a hedgerow, where a green cover must be established and maintained.
- no cultivation or the application of pesticides or fertilisers should take place within this buffer strip.
You can find guidance on these rules and exemptions in the buffer strip guidance and the cutting and trimming guidance on GOV.UK.
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