Barnsley Biodiversity Action Plan. Post-15 BAP. Updated to 2023

 Biodiversity

 Action

 Plan

Conservation of hedgerows:

Hedgerows were removed in large numbers in the second half of the last century across the country, including to an extent in Barnsley.


Although the Hedgerow Regulations, introduced in 1997, protect hedgerows against removal, neglect and a lack of positive management continue to slash the value of hedgerows and affect whether they survive. In addition the threat of removal has not gone away.


Factors causing hedgerow loss or decline

Good practice

Flailing and cutting hedgerows requires careful timing and method to provide a diverse hedgerow habitat and good hedgerow structure.

Legal protection.

Hedgerow Regulations 1997.

Hedgerows that are important from an archaeological, historical, landscape or biodiversity perspective are protected by the Hedgerow Regulations.


Under the Hedgerows Regulations 1997, it is illegal to remove or destroy these hedgerows without permission from the local planning authority. See below for criteria.


Other protection

Hedgerows may also be protected by local planning policies for particular sites and by being associated with Local Wildlife Sites.


Specific trees in hedgerows may be protected by Tree Protection Orders (TPO)


Links:

Hedgerows & the Law - Gov.uk

Hedgerow Regulations

BMBC Supplementary planning doc (2019)


The majority of well-managed hedgerows will be thick and dense, without gaps, and with a strip of uncultivated ground alongside.


They will be trimmed no more than every 2 to 3 years, cut slightly higher each time.

Hedgerow BAP favourable condition

Size: ≥1m high; ≥1.5m  wide; 3m xsection

Gaps: ≤ 10% gaps; no gaps ≥5m wide;
base of hedge canopy
≤0.5m above ground

≥2m undisturbed ground /≥1m herbaceous cover alongside hedge

≤ 20% cover of nettles, cleavers and docks within 2m band alongside hedge

≤ 10% non-native woody species / ≤ 10% non-native herbaceous species

Hedgelink and PTES give useful information and advice on hedgerow management and surveys.


PTES’s Great British Hedgerow Survey classes hedges as being dense and well managed; too frequently or over-trimmed, tall and overgrown; or being recently planted or rejuvenated by laying or coppicing.


Links:

Hedgelink resources and advice

Defra Hedgerow Survey Handbook

PTES Advice and Hedgerow Survey

Thinning hedgerow with trees near Genn Lane Hedgerow with trees near Hoyland

Hedgerow Conservation