Hedgerows a vital part of landscape

Donal Hickey on why we should protect our hedges.

THE question of who is responsible for cutting roadside hedges is causing controversy in some parts of the country, with the key issue being whether it is the legal duty of landowners, or the local authority? People in rural areas are continually giving out about untrimmed hedges and trees that become traffic hazards as they obscure views and sometimes force drivers onto the middle of the road, if not onto the incorrect side.

And, of course, that immediately brings us to the vexed question of compensation. There have been cases were landowners have been successfully sued after people being killed, or injured, by trees falling from their property. There’s also the environmental role of hedgerows in relation to plant and wildlife, but more about that anon.