§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many prosecutions have been brought by local authorities under the Hedgerow Regulations 1997, broken down by county. [82561]
§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many miles of old hedgerow were removed in each of the last five years prior to the enactment of the Hedgerow Regulations 1997; and how many miles have been removed since its enactment, broken down by county in each case. [82560]
§ Mr. MealeThe last survey into changes in countryside hedgerows in England and Wales covered the years 1990 to 1993. This estimated that on average some 3,600 km of hedgerow were lost due to outright removal each year. A survey of hedgerow stock will be undertaken as part of Countryside Survey 2000. This will provide a basis for analysing changes which have occurred since the earlier survey.
§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what monitoring his Department carries out of local authorities with regard to their implementation of the Hedgerow Regulations 1997. [82562]
§ Mr. MealeIn 1997, the Local Government Association surveyed their members in order to inform the review of the Hedgerows Regulations. The results are included in the report of the review group,Review of the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 ISBN 1 85112 091 2, published in July 1998. Apart from this, while the current Regulations are under review, my Department has not devoted resources to gathering data from local planning authorities on how they are working in practice.