Skip to main content
Logo icon

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
  • Meet your MP
  • Government Support - Cost of Living
  • In Parliament
  • Campaign Responses
  • Contact
Logo icon

Hedgerows

  • Tweet

I welcome the CPRE report on hedgerows. Hedgerows and field boundaries are the very essence of our British countryside, providing vital resources for mammals, birds and inspect species. They improve air quality, store carbon and benefit the rural economy. An important habitat in their own right, they act as wildlife corridors and enhance our cultural and national heritage.

Now we have left the EU and the Transition Period is over, the Government is able to reward farmers for the work they do to sustainably manage every metre of hedgerow on their land in a way that is right for their area. Part of the sustainable farming incentive is the hedgerow standard, under which ministers will pay farmers to plant more hedgerows, leave them uncut or raise the cutting height. To provide habitat for wildlife, farmers and land managers will be incentivised to maintain and plant more hedgerow trees. I know that simple actions like planting trees within the footprint of existing hedges can make a big difference. 

Hedgerows are legally protected by the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 which prohibit their removal without first seeking approval from the local planning authority. The authority is required to decide whether a hedgerow is ‘important’ according to the Regulations and should not be removed. Research has indicated that over 70 per cent of hedgerows in England and Wales are 'important'. The Regulations therefore play a valuable role in providing statutory protection for a large proportion of hedgerows in the countryside. When granting planning permission, a local authority has the power to impose enforceable conditions on a developer in order to protect hedges or trees assessed as being worthy of retention, which might otherwise be harmed by construction or the new land use.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Craig Whittaker MP

October 2021.

Campaign Responses

  • Archived Campaign Responses
  • Covid-19: Commemoration (EDM 481)
  • Covid-19: Extending Support Schemes
  • Covid-19: No 10 Christmas Parties
  • Covid-19: Provision of Tests
  • Covid-19: Public Inquiry
  • Covid-19: Removal of Restrictions
  • Covid-19: Supporting the NHS
  • Covid-19: Supporting the Night Time Economy
  • Covid-19: Vaccinating Children
  • Covid-19: Vaccines and Developing Countries
  • Abortion At Home
  • Access to Cash
  • Afghanistan and Afghan Refugees
  • Aid Spending
  • Animal Experiments (Dogs)
  • Animal Sentience: Update January 2022
  • Animal Testing
  • Animal Welfare
  • Assisted Suicide
  • Asylum Seekers: Employment
  • AUKUS
  • Australia Trade Deal
  • Badgers and Bovine TB
  • Beer and Alcohol Duty (incudes Draught Beer)
  • Bees & Pesticides
  • Business, Human Rights and Environment
  • Caged Farm Animals
  • Cambo & Oil Fields
  • Care Workers: National Living Wage
  • CatchUpWithCancer
  • Cats & Kittens
  • Channel 4 Privatisation
  • Child Poverty
  • Children & Families
  • Clean Air
  • Clean Heat: Heat Pumps
  • Clean Heat: Energy Efficiency
  • Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill
  • Climate Issues (plus COP 26)
  • Commercial Sexual Exploitation
  • Conversion Therapy
  • COP26: Global Action
  • Copyright
  • Council Workers' and Public Sector Pay
  • Cut Carbon Not Forests: Update
  • Cycling and Walking: Update
  • Dangerous Dogs Act
  • Debt and DROs
  • Decarbonisation and Economic Strategy Bill
  • Dementia Research & Brain Health
  • Dentistry
  • Deporting Foreign Criminals
  • Disability Benefits Assessments
  • Domestic Abuse Bill
  • Domestic Abuse: Migrants
  • Domestic Homicide
  • Domestic Abuse: Universal Credit
  • Early Years Funding
  • Elections Act and the Electoral Commission
  • End Child Food Poverty
  • Endometriosis and PCOS
  • Energy Price Cap
  • Environment Bill (Lords Amendments)
  • E-scooters (Guide Dogs)
  • Equal Pay
  • EU/EEA Settled Status
  • Face Coverings
  • Fire & Rehire
  • Fix Bad Housing
  • Flexible Working
  • Foie Gras and Fur
  • Food Waste
  • Fuel Duty and Prices
  • Gamebird Battery Cages
  • Gambling Review
  • Gender Recognition Act: Update
  • Global Malnutrition
  • Global Partnership for Education
  • GP Issues
  • Guards’ Bearskins
  • Hamas
  • Health & Care Bill (including Workforce)
  • Heart and Circulatory Diseases
  • Hedgehogs
  • Hedgerows
  • Holiday Tax Lets
  • HS2
  • Human Rights Act
  • Human Rights Defenders
  • Humanist Marriages
  • Hunting Act
  • Immigration and Refugees
  • Israel is not an Apartheid State
  • Israel: Stop BDS
  • Israel: UK Arms and Right to Self-defence
  • Ivory Act: Update
  • Kept Animals Bill
  • Legal Aid: Asylum and Immigration Cases
  • Levelling-up: Transport
  • Live Animal Exports
  • Local Electricity Bill
  • Medical Cannabis
  • Mental Health Research
  • Migrant Channel Crossings
  • Misogyny
  • Mobile Mast Rents
  • MP's & Second Jobs
  • Multi-sensory Impairment: Education
  • National Insurance Increase (NHS & Social Care)
  • Nationality and Borders Bill
  • NHS Funding
  • NHS Pay: Consultants, Doctors and Dentists
  • NHS Pay and Recruitment
  • Night Time Industries
  • Northern Ireland Protocol
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Ocean Protection
  • Off-payroll Working (IR35)
  • Older People: Health and Care
  • Palestinian Human Rights Defenders
  • 'Partygate': Fixed Penalty Notices
  • Peat
  • Pension Credit
  • Pensioner Poverty
  • Persecution of Christians: Updated May 2022
  • Planning Bill
  • Plastic Waste
  • Police Corruption & Accountability
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: February 2022
  • Pregnancy and Maternity Redundancy Bill
  • Proportional Property Tax
  • Public Sector Pay (Civil Service)
  • Public Sexual Harassment: Crime not Compliment (Jan 22)
  • Rail: Fares, Privatisation & Eurostar
  • Rape and the Criminal Justice System
  • Reception Baseline Assessment (Primary Schools)
  • Renters Reform Bill: Updated
  • Retail Workers: Protection at Work
  • Royal Corruption
  • Rwanda Partnership: Tackling Illegal Immigration and People Smugglers
  • Violence against Women and Girls
  • School Breakfast Bill
  • Sentencing (Dangerous Driving)
  • Sewage Discharges
  • Small Brewers Relief
  • Snares
  • Social Care Charging Reforms
  • Social Housing
  • Speed Limits
  • Stamp Duty Land Tax
  • Syria
  • Teachers' Pay
  • Trade Bill: Anti-genocide Amendment (Updated)
  • Trade Deals: Farming and Food Standards
  • Trade Deals: Food Standards
  • Trade Deals: NHS - New Clause 17 and Lords 11
  • Trade Deals: Parliamentary Scrutiny
  • Trains and Planes
  • Triple Lock (State Pension)
  • Trophy Hunting Update
  • Trespass (Right to Roam)
  • Ukraine
  • Ukraine: Refugees
  • UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights
  • Unaccompanied Child Refugees
  • Universal Credit
  • Vagrancy Act and the PCSC Bill (Lords Amendment)
  • Vaping and E-Cigarettes
  • VAT on Electric Vehicle Charging in Public Places
  • Visa-free Work Permits for Touring Artists
  • Voting Systems
  • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (UK Aid)
  • Wayne Couzens Inquiry
  • Young People's Mental Health
  • Youth Homelessness: Chance to Move On

Craig Whittaker MP for Calder Valley

Footer

  • About RSS
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • About Craig
  • Campaign Responses
  • In Parliament
This website is funded by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) for the purpose of assisting Craig Whittaker MP in the performance of their Parliamentary duties.
Copyright 2022 Craig Whittaker MP for Calder Valley. All rights reserved.
Powered by Bluetree