Hedgerow removal notice or felling licence: which applies
A field hedge with standard trees can engage two separate consent regimes at once. Here is what each covers, the important hedgerow criteria, the felling exemptions and the timescales for both.
Two different regimes protect what most people call a hedge, and they are administered by two different bodies under two different Acts. The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 control the removal of the hedgerow itself and are administered by your local planning authority. The Forestry Act 1967 controls the felling of growing trees above certain thresholds and is administered by the Forestry Commission. A mature hedge with oak standards in it can engage both at once.
Getting this wrong is expensive. Removing a protected hedgerow without notice is a criminal offence, and felling without a licence where one was needed can bring a restocking notice requiring replanting at your cost.
What the hedgerow rules protect
The 1997 Regulations apply to hedgerows growing on or adjoining agricultural land, common land, village greens, sites of special scientific interest, local nature reserves and land used for forestry or the breeding or keeping of horses. They apply where the hedgerow is 20 m or more in length, or shorter than that but meeting another hedgerow at each end.
They do not apply to hedgerows within or marking the boundary of the curtilage of a dwelling house. That single exclusion takes most garden hedges out of the regime entirely, which is why a suburban hedge and a field boundary of identical species are treated so differently.
"Removal" means uprooting or otherwise destroying the hedgerow. Normal management, including cutting, laying and coppicing, is not removal, although the Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 introduced cutting dates and buffer requirements on agricultural land, so check the current position before trimming as well as before removing.
The important hedgerow criteria
Where the Regulations apply, you serve a hedgerow removal notice on the local planning authority and wait. The authority has 42 days to respond. If it does nothing within that period you may proceed. If it considers the hedgerow "important" under the criteria in the Regulations, it serves a hedgerow retention notice and the hedge stays.
The criteria fall into two groups. The archaeological and historical criteria ask whether the hedgerow marks a pre-1850 parish or township boundary, whether it forms part of a field system predating enclosure, whether it is associated with a scheduled monument or a recorded archaeological feature, and whether it is shown on historic maps as part of an earlier landscape.
The wildlife and landscape criteria count woody species along a 30 m sample length, with a rising number of species indicating importance, and add points for associated features such as a bank, a wall, a ditch, standard trees, connections to woodland and ground flora typical of ancient hedges.
The species count is the criterion most often decisive, and it is also the one most often miscounted. Have it done properly. A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal will usually pick up the hedgerow assessment alongside the habitat survey, and doing both in one visit saves a second mobilisation.
What a felling licence covers instead
A felling licence deals with trees, not hedges. You need one from the Forestry Commission to fell growing trees unless an exemption applies. The volume exemption allows a limited quantity of timber to be felled in any calendar quarter, with a smaller limit on what may be sold, and there are diameter exemptions for small trees, thinnings and coppice.
Trees in gardens, orchards, churchyards and public open spaces are exempt, as is felling required to comply with a statutory obligation. Those exemptions are narrower than people assume, and the garden exemption in particular does not stretch to a paddock or a field that happens to adjoin a house.
Where a tree is also protected by a Tree Preservation Order or stands in a conservation area, and a felling licence is required, the licence process governs and the Forestry Commission consults the local planning authority. Where no licence is needed, the Order or conservation area notification applies in the normal way.
Trees within a hedgerow
This is where the two regimes meet. Removing the hedge is one question. Felling the oak standing in it is another.
| Question | Regime | Body |
|---|---|---|
| Removing a length of field hedgerow | Hedgerows Regulations 1997 | Local planning authority |
| Felling standard trees above the exemption thresholds | Forestry Act 1967 | Forestry Commission |
| Felling a tree subject to a Tree Preservation Order where no licence is needed | TPO Regulations 2012 | Local planning authority |
| Works to trees in a conservation area where no licence is needed | Six weeks' written notice | Local planning authority |
| Hedge cutting on agricultural land | Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 | Defra regime, enforced locally |
Serving a hedgerow removal notice does not give you permission to fell the trees in the hedge, and a felling licence does not permit you to grub out the hedge. Where both apply, run both, and start the licence application first because it takes longer.
A tree survey recording stem diameters is the practical way to work out whether the diameter exemptions are met, because the thresholds are measured rather than estimated.
Timescales and determination
The hedgerow notice runs for 42 days. That is a hard period, and it is short enough that most farm and development programmes can absorb it if the notice is served early.
Felling licence applications take considerably longer. Applications go on a public register, there is a consultation period, and the Forestry Commission may attach conditions requiring restocking and maintenance. Check the current service standard rather than assuming a timescale, and plan on months rather than weeks.
Both processes sit alongside the nesting bird season. It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to damage or destroy the nest of a wild bird while it is in use or being built, which in practice rules out hedgerow work between the start of March and the end of August unless a check by an ecologist confirms no active nests.
Offences, replacement and enforcement
Unauthorised removal of an important hedgerow is a criminal offence, and the local planning authority can require replacement planting through an enforcement notice. The replacement is of a hedge, not of the decades of growth that were removed, which is the point the enforcement process cannot fix.
Illegal felling is an offence under the Forestry Act, and the Forestry Commission can serve a restocking notice requiring the land to be replanted and the trees maintained for a defined period. The parallels with the planning system's approach are close enough that the analysis in tree replacement notices and enforcement notices transfers directly.
Contractors are not a defence. Where a contractor removes a hedge on your instruction, the liability follows the person who caused the removal.
Working out which notice to serve
Five questions, in order.
- Is the hedgerow on or adjoining land of one of the qualifying types, and is it 20 m or more, or meeting another hedgerow at both ends.
- Is it within or marking the boundary of a dwelling house curtilage, which takes it out of the Regulations.
- Are there trees in it above the felling licence diameter and volume exemptions.
- Are any of those trees subject to a Tree Preservation Order or standing in a conservation area.
- Is the work proposed between March and August, when nesting birds are the governing constraint.
Answer those and the route is usually obvious. Where the answers are mixed, serve the hedgerow notice and apply for the licence in parallel rather than sequentially.
This is general guidance rather than legal advice, and hedgerow and felling rules carry criminal liability, so check the position with your local planning authority, the Forestry Commission or a qualified professional before relying on it.
If the removal forms part of a development proposal, the report index shows which supporting documents an application is likely to need. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Which hedges are covered by the Hedgerows Regulations?
Hedgerows on or adjoining agricultural land, common land, village greens, sites of special scientific interest, local nature reserves and land used for forestry or keeping horses, where the hedge is 20 metres or more or meets another hedgerow at each end. Hedges within or marking the boundary of a dwelling house curtilage are excluded.
How long does a hedgerow removal notice take?
The local planning authority has 42 days to respond. If it serves a hedgerow retention notice within that period the hedge must stay. If it does nothing, removal may proceed. The period is short enough to absorb into most programmes if the notice is served early.
When do I need a felling licence?
You need one from the Forestry Commission to fell growing trees unless an exemption applies. The exemptions cover limited volumes in any calendar quarter, with a lower limit on timber sold, small diameter trees, thinnings and coppice, and trees in gardens, orchards, churchyards and public open spaces. The garden exemption does not extend to adjoining fields or paddocks.
Does a hedgerow notice let me fell the trees in the hedge?
No. The two regimes are separate. A hedgerow removal notice deals with the hedge and a felling licence deals with the trees. Where both apply, run them in parallel and start the licence application first, because it takes considerably longer to determine.
What happens if a hedge is removed without notice?
Unauthorised removal of an important hedgerow is a criminal offence, and the authority can require replacement planting through an enforcement notice. Illegal felling can attract a restocking notice under the Forestry Act requiring replanting and maintenance. Instructing a contractor does not transfer the liability.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.