Friday 13th August 2004
New rules will protect Devon's hedges | |
|  | | Farmland near Berry Pomeroy, criss-crossed with hedgerows |
| | Under new rules due to be brought in next year, farmers and landowners will have to take extra measures to protect the county's 33,000 miles of hedgerows. |
|  | | Farmers are to be banned from trimming their hedgerows between 1st March and 31st July.
And they will also have to provide a 'protection zone' in fields alongside hedges and water courses, with the zone measuring two metres from the centre of the hedgerow.
It's part of a series of environmental measures which are conditions attached to the £1.7 billion in EU subsidies paid to farmers each year.
The rules are to come into force in 2005 and have been welcomed by environmental groups, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and English Nature.
Hedgerows are home to threatened species of birds and other wildllife, and environmentalists have been concerned that summer-time trimming has had a detrimental effect.
 | The cirl bunting likes hedgerows
Photo: RSPB |
One of the bird species which will be helped by the new rules is the threatened cirl bunting, which can now only be found in the South West of England - and South Devon in particular.
Devon has more hedgerows than any other county - 33,000 miles of them, to be precise.
They are an integral part of the county's landscape, criss-crossing farmland and Devon's rolling hills.
The National Farmers' Union is unhappy at the way the Government's farming department, Defra, has announced the conditions.
NFU President, Tim Bennett, said: "The blanket imposition of two-metre margins is a poor decision.
"We offered Defra a better way forward - a proposal for improved management plans on hedgerows and watercourses which would have targeted action where it was important and where it would make a difference.
 | | A typical Devon summer scene - a hedgerow in the South Hams |
"Of course we agree that protecting and improving hedgerows and watercourses is important.
"We want to work together with other partners to achieve these goals.
"This is a missed opportunity and a slap in the face for those of us who have been arguing for a new consensus on the environment.
"What makes this decision all the more galling is that it only applies to England. The rest of the UK will not be required to keep uncultivated margins."
The NFU also points out that farmers planted and renovated nearly 40,000km of hedgerow during the 1990s and spend more than £16 million a year looking after them.
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