Campaign update

We have been campaigning since 1970 for improved protection of England's hedgerows and other important landscape features and for better funding to manage, restore and, if necessary, plant hedgerows.

Lobbying Government
In April 2003, we submitted a detailed response to the Government consultation paper on proposed changes to the hedgerow regulations. Our response called for protection to be extended to dry stone walls and features locally known as hedgerows, such as hedge banks.

Our response also supported proposals to protect both locally distinctive hedgerows and hedgerows on all roads and rights of way. These proposals are particularly valuable because they protect hedgerows that are important because of how much local people value them, not just their value to wildlife.

Also, because dry stone walls and hedgerows are also disappearing due to lack of management and neglect, we recommended that the Government give further consideration to additional measures to protect hedgerows, such as integrating landscape character assessment in land-use planning and agri-environment incentives.

Helping volunteers to survey hedgerows
We produced a free Hedgerow Action Pack people use to carry out local hedgerow surveys. We pass on the survey results to the local CPRE hedgerow co-ordinators. They analyse the results and use them to inform local authorities and land managers about the importance of hedgerows in the area and to ensure that the Government's hedgerow regulations are made as effective as possible.

We helped to develop the Hedgerow Survey Handbook: A standard procedure for local surveys in the UK. It is a comprehensive guide to hedgerow surveying at a local level. The results from these surveys can be used to build up a national picture of local hedgerows..