Hedges and Ditches

(asked on 8th February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what ecological assessment his Department has made of the impact of reduced hedgerow coverage in the UK.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 16th February 2022

The Government does not have an up-to-date ecological assessment of the impact of reduced hedgerow coverage in the UK but is committed to protecting hedgerows. Hedgerows are important environmental and landscape features that provide essential habitats and food for wildlife, as well as providing carbon sequestration and other benefits.

Hedgelink, a partnership supported by environmental, farming and heritage organisations, have estimated that between 1984 and 1990 the length of hedgerows in Great Britain declined by about 23%. The Countryside Survey 2000 indicated that by 1998 this decline in the length of hedgerows had been halted.

The Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme funds the planning and maintenance of hedgerows. In 2021, 3870 agreements included hedge-planting, creating over 2,700 km of new hedgerows. The new round of CS opened for applications on 8 February, and we would encourage farmers and land managers to apply to plant hedgerows or improve existing ones. In 2021, there were also over 9,000 CS agreements with the management of hedgerows option, covering over 46,000 km of hedgerows. Our new environmental land management schemes will also continue to fund the management of hedgerows, in recognition of their historical, cultural and environmental value to our countryside.

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