Cork county councillors have called for hedgecutting dates for roadside hedges to be brought forward by one month from 1 September to 1 August, citing safety concerns for road users.
A debate in Cork County Hall on Tuesday heard that councillors are being inundated with calls from lorry, bus and car drivers about hedgerows not being cut back during summer months.
Beara-based independent councillor Finbarr Harrington told the Irish Farmers Journal that he had originally proposed a motion to allow year-round roadside hedgecutting for road safety reasons but, while this is permitted under legislation, landowners are fearful of being prosecuted if they cut during the summer months.
He told the chamber that when the county council writes to landowners to point out hedgecutting is their responsibility under road safety laws, “the landowner panics, they get the contractor out and the hedges get hacked to death”.
Afraid
Many landowners are afraid to cut roadside hedges for safety reason because they fear fines or prosecutions, he maintained.
He called for roadside hedgecutting to be permitted from 1 August instead of 1 September.
The proposal was supported by numerous councillors, who all recounted their own stories of safety issues and financial losses suffered by drivers losing mirrors to overgrown hedges.
Social Democrat councillor Isobel Towse was in the minority in opposing the proposal, saying that EU legislation prevented a change of date, and adding that she believed the risk to life was being overstated.
SHARING OPTIONS