Hedge and tree work: what the law says

Nesting birds have no date range

Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to intentionally take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while that nest is in use or being built. No calendar dates appear anywhere in the section. March to August is guidance about when nests are likely, not a statutory closed season.

Cutting a hedge in June is lawful. Destroying an active nest inside it is not, whatever the month. Practical compliance means a proper look through the hedge before the trimmer starts, stopping if a nest is found, and recording the check. Scotland widens the offence to reckless acts as well as intentional ones, so a contractor who ploughs on without looking is exposed there in a way they are not in England. Northern Ireland runs the same protection through the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, which also covers reckless conduct.

The 2024 hedgerow rules are for farmland

The Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 carry a cutting and trimming ban from 1 March to 31 August and a two metre buffer strip requirement. Most garden websites report this as a blanket ban on hedge cutting, and it is nothing of the kind.

Scope is narrow. The rules reach only hedgerows growing on or next to land used for agriculture, and only where the hedgerow runs over 20 metres or connects to another hedgerow at each end. Hedgerows within the curtilage of a dwelling house, or marking the boundary of that curtilage on either side, are expressly outside the scope. A privet hedge along a suburban front garden is not covered, and the Rural Payments Agency, which enforces the rules, has no role there.

Preservation orders and conservation areas

Work to a tree protected by a Tree Preservation Order without written consent is an offence under section 210 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Where the tree is cut down, uprooted or wilfully destroyed, the fine in England and Wales has been unlimited in both the magistrates' court and the Crown Court since 12 March 2015; the commonly quoted £20,000 cap was removed then. Courts must take account of any financial benefit gained from the offence.

Trees in a conservation area are not automatically protected, but six weeks' written notice to the local planning authority is required before work starts. Regulation 15 of the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation)(England) Regulations 2012 exempts stems of 75mm diameter or less, measured over the bark at 1.5 metres above natural ground level, and 100mm or less where the cutting is purely to improve the growth of other trees.

High hedges: the two metre rule

Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 lets a council act on a complaint about a high hedge in England and Wales. The definition is narrow: a line of two or more evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs, forming a barrier to light, rising more than two metres above ground level. A single tree does not qualify, and nor does a deciduous beech hedge.

Complaints go to the council only after the neighbours have tried to settle it themselves, and most authorities charge a fee to consider one. A remedial notice can require the hedge to be cut back and kept down, but cannot require removal or a height below two metres. Failing to comply is an offence carrying a fine of up to £1,000. Scotland uses the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013, which covers hedges of any species rather than evergreens alone, and Northern Ireland has the High Hedges Act (Northern Ireland) 2011.

Overhanging branches and boundaries

Branches and roots crossing a boundary may be cut back to the boundary line under common law, provided the work does not kill the tree and no preservation order or conservation area designation applies. Material cut off remains the property of the tree owner and should be offered back rather than thrown over the fence.

Ownership follows the position of the trunk, not the canopy. Where the trunk straddles a boundary the tree is jointly owned and neither party can work on it alone. Fruit hanging on overhanging branches also belongs to the tree owner, which is the point most neighbour disputes eventually turn on.