hedges
Hedge cutting and trimming
£60 to £150 trims a standard garden hedge outside London, £90 to £220 inside it. Height drives the figure more than length does: under a metre costs £40 to £80, while a leylandii run over three metres reaches £220 to £400. Cuttings are extra at £20 to £50.
What this covers
What it costs. £60 to £150 is the common range for a standard domestic hedge, with £120 the figure quoted most often. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Regular trims to hold a hedge at its height
- Cutting back a hedge that has outgrown its space
- Shaping conifers, box, beech and privet
- Checking for active nests before any cut
- Taking the cuttings away
Worth knowing
A gardener pays to tip your green waste, because the household recycling centre is free only to householders. Once it moves in the course of a business it is commercial waste and the gardener pays a gate fee, which is why removal is usually priced separately.
Household waste recycling centre commercial waste rules
England
The 1 March to 31 August cutting ban brought in during 2024 applies to hedgerows on agricultural land of twenty metres or more, with a two metre buffer measured from the centre. Hedgerows in the garden of a house are expressly exempt, so a garden hedge is not covered.
Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024; gov.uk hedgerow management rules
England and Wales
A high hedge complaint needs a barrier to light or access formed wholly or mainly by two or more evergreens over two metres. A council notice may not require it to be cut below two metres, and deciduous hedges and single trees are outside the scheme altogether.
Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, Part 8
Scotland
Scotland's scheme covers two or more trees or shrubs of any species over two metres that block light, which is wider than the England and Wales test because it is not limited to evergreens. Northern Ireland runs a third scheme under its own 2011 Act.
High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013, section 1
What is involved
Checking for nests comes first. Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence in England and Wales to intentionally damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built. The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 extends that to reckless acts; Northern Ireland runs the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985. No statute names a date range. March to August is guidance, not law: cutting a hedge in June is legal, wrecking an occupied nest is not.
Farmland rules are often quoted to householders, but they do not cover gardens. The Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 ban cutting from 1 March to 31 August, but regulation 3 confines them to hedgerows on or beside land used for agriculture and excludes anything within the grounds of a house. Your garden hedge sits outside their scope. On the day, faces are cut before the crown, worked to a taper so light reaches the base, and old conifer is taken back only as far as green growth, because leylandii will not reshoot from brown wood.
Height changes the pricing structure, not just the total. Above two metres a tower or platform replaces the ladder, moving an ordinary hedge from the £70 to £130 band into £130 to £220. Waste comes off at £20 to £50, more once it fills a van. A tree grown into the hedge line is separate: one under a Tree Preservation Order needs consent before it is cut, and in an English conservation area six weeks of written notice goes to the council first.
Choosing someone for the job
Both faces and the crown, or only the side facing your own garden? Height drives the price more than length, so confirm the height the price is based on. Cuttings at £20 to £50 are usually a separate line rather than an assumption. For conifers, how far back do they intend to cut, and will brown wood be showing when they pack up? Any tree grown into the run wants checking against the Tree Preservation Order register first.
Worth reading first:
- How to find a good gardener
- Gardener hourly rate in the UK: what to expect to pay
- Waste carrier registration for gardeners
- Questions to ask a gardener
- How long garden jobs take
- When can you cut hedges? Nesting birds, trees and the law
- Gardener qualifications in the UK
- Garden jobs by month: what to do in March and all year
Related jobs:
Common questions
Is it illegal to cut a hedge between March and August?
No. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 sets no dates at all; it makes damaging an active nest an offence whenever that happens. The farmland ban running 1 March to 31 August comes from the Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024, which exclude hedges in the grounds of a house.
How much does a leylandii hedge cost to cut?
£130 to £220 for a run of two to three metres, and £220 to £400 once it passes three. Leylandii grows fast and dense, so it takes longer per metre than privet or beech. Reduction into brown wood is a different job, and the hedge will not green over again.