COMMONS AMENDMENTS (Hansard, 11 July 1995)

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 155 to 160 en bloc. These amendments respond to anxieties expressed by your Lordships that the present provisions in Clause 80 are too broadly stated. They honour an assurance given by my noble friend Lord Ullswater that he would give further consideration to incorporating an appeals mechanism in the regulations on the face of the Bill.

§ Baroness Nicol
My Lords, I wanted simply to welcome the amendments and to ask one question. During the passage of the Bill in this House we had a great deal of discussion about what constitutes an "important hedgerow". Has any progress been made in that regard? Are the Government any nearer a definition of what constitutes an important hedgerow? That information would be helpful to some of us.

§ Lord Stanley of Alderley
My Lords, it goes without saying that I am concerned that yet another bureaucratic regulation is being imposed on farmers because they must notify a local authority if they wish to remove one of their hedgerows. In line with the remarks made by the noble Baroness, I should like to know what is a hedgerow and whether that will be spelt out clearly in the regulations.
Moreover and perhaps more important, if a farmer goes to a local authority to say that he wishes to remove a hedgerow, will the Minister ensure that there is a time limit in the regulations which provides that an answer is given within 28 days and that if he is not given an answer within that time limit, the permission will be granted automatically.

Earl Ferrers
My Lords, I am grateful for the welcome which the noble Baroness has given to the amendments. The noble Baroness wants to know, as does my noble friend, what is meant by an "important hedgerow". I can understand the anxieties expressed by my noble friend because it is important that there is not too much bureaucracy in relation to the countryside or anything else. However, there are occasions when it is necessary to try to protect important hedgerows. Research is in hand to investigate what should properly he regarded as important hedgerows and to establish a system for assessing their quality.
1572 We have made clear our intention to focus protection on those hedgerows which are of particular historic interest or which make a particularly valuable contribution to the wildlife or landscape of an area. The kind of hedgerows which we have in mind are those which are long-standing and which form part of the natural countryside. If my noble friend planted a hedge 10 years ago, I do not believe that he would be refused permission to remove it because we place particular importance on those hedgerows which have been in place for a long time. My noble friend asked whether we could have a time limit of 28 days. That is rather like the noble Baroness, Lady Nicol, asking earlier what "reasonable" meant. Now my noble friend tries to put me on the spot in asking for 28 days. This is a matter which is part of the regulations. We shall settle what is the appropriate time after we have had wide-ranging public consultations.