The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has urged the government to simplify the rules to protect hedgerows and give local (parish and town) councils a more significant role.
Responding this week to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) consultation on hedgerow protection, NALC argued that the current Hedgerow Regulations 1997 should be simplified to make them easier to understand, more widely applied and give communities represented by local councils a more significant say in hedgerow protection in their areas.
NALC also supported that local councils are consulted before hedgerows are removed and that the government should prioritise hedgerow protection like trees. Hedgerows have a crucial role in the ecosystem of water and carbon absorption.