§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any hedgerow established under an enclosure award made before 1845 and, therefore, regarded as an important hedgerow under the provisions of Schedule 1, Part II, paragraph 5(c) to the Hedgerow Regulations 1977, should be so recognised by each relevant local authority.
§ Baroness HaymanFor the purposes of the Hedgerows Regulations 1997, a hedgerow is important if it has existed for 30 years or more and satisfies at least one of the criteria listed in Part II of Schedule 1 to the regulations. One such criterion (in Schedule 1, Part II, paragraph 5(a)) specifies that the hedgerow is recorded in a document held at 24 March 1997 at a Record Office as an integral part of a field system pre-dating the Inclosure Acts. Not every hedgerow established under an enclosure award made before 1845 will necessarily satisfy the criterion. This is because, in addition, it must be identified, in relation to the wider field system, in a document placed in a Record Office before 24 March 1997 and must be considered an integral part of that field system, for the criterion to be met.