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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) protect and (b) expand hedgerows in urban environments.

Urban hedgerows are already offered protection through planning decisions. Local authorities have the ability to impose enforceable planning conditions on a developer to protect hedges or trees assessed as being worthy of retention, which might otherwise be harmed by construction or the new land-use.

Developments which are subject to the Environment’s Act biodiversity gain requirement will also have to measure their impact on hedgerows with the biodiversity metric. Any losses will have to be compensated for with new or enhanced hedgerows, either on the development site or elsewhere.

All wild birds, their eggs and their nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which prohibits killing, injuring, or taking of wild birds or taking or damaging their eggs and nests, providing further important protections for most hedgerows and wild birds.

Furthermore, when the delivering the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 biodiversity duty, which is strengthened in the Environment Act 2021, a local authority could consider whether to plant hedgerows in their area as a demonstration of positive, active commitment to enhancing biodiversity.

In addition, our £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund has kick-started a pipeline of 159 nature-based projects to restore nature, tackle climate change and connect people with the natural environment. In round 1 The Tree Council led the ‘Close the Gap’ Hedgerow Project which has planted 51km of new and restored hedgerow in urban and rural areas, working closely with farmers and community groups.