Hedgerows are one of the most important ecological building blocks in our farmed landscape. They maintain the distinctive character of our countryside and provide crucial habitats and food for wildlife. Hedgerows can store carbon, improve local air quality and benefit the rural economy by boosting job creation for hedgerow planting and management in local communities.
Protection of hedgerows is a key component of the Government’s Environmental Land Management Schemes. Through the Countryside Stewardship schemes, Ministers are supporting farmers to maintain and restore over 10,000km of existing hedgerows while planting an additional 4,000km across the nation. As of January 2023, there were around 32,000 Countryside Stewardship agreements. This is a 94 per cent increase from 2020, and this included payments for 52,800km of hedgerows maintenance and management.
Further, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra’s) new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) hedgerow standard will pay farmers to assess the condition of hedgerows and manage them in a way that will work for wildlife and improve biodiversity. SFI payments were increased by 10 per cent at the beginning of this year, providing more money for farmers deliver change.
This increased support for farmers will result in the creation of more hedgerows and flower-rich grass areas on the edge of fields. This will help the UK to meet its environment targets and contribute to the UK’s aim of halting biodiversity loss by 2030.
Cross compliance rules ended at the end of last year. This is because gaps between cross compliance rules and regulatory requirements are already covered by existing and ongoing strong domestic legal framework, such as through generalised provisions in Farming Rules for Water and the Water Resources Act, guidance like the Code of Practice for the use of Plant Protection Products, and standards in the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme. As a result of these, my Defra colleagues do not believe farmers will lower standards and there will not be significant negative environmental impacts in these areas.
Finally, Defra recently carried out a consultation on how best to maintain and improve existing protections for hedgerows, as well as how they can be enforced. The consultation is now closed and a response will be published in due course.
DS