“I am a landowner with part of my land boundary adjoining a public road while other parts adjoin neighbouring farmer’s lands. Who is responsible for cutting the hedges?”

Hedgerows along a public road: The Roads Act, 1993 stipulates that the owner or occupier of land shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that a tree, shrub, hedge or other vegetation on the land is not a hazard or potential hazard to persons using a public road. Thus, hedgerow maintenance along a road is the responsibility of the owner or occupier of the land. Where a hedge is a hazard or potential hazard to persons using a public road, a road authority may serve a notice on the owner or occupier of the land requiring the felling, cutting or trimming of the hedge within a period stated in the notice. Where the owner or occupier of land fails to comply with a notice, they shall be guilty of an offence. The road authority may take the action specified in the notice and recover any reasonable costs incurred by it from the owner or occupier of the land. The Wildlife Act, 1976, as amended by the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000, forbids cutting or removal of hedgerows or other vegetation during the bird nesting season from 1 March to 31 August each year.

Clare County Council, supported by local farm organisations, has launched a scheme to help landowners cut their hedges. The Community Hedge Cutting Grant Scheme, the first of its kind in Ireland, will afford communities and groups an opportunity to apply to Clare County Council for a grant to offset some hedge-cutting costs. The scheme will provide a grant of €25 per kilometre of roadside hedge/overhanging trees to be attended to. Forms should be submitted to Clare County Council no later than 30 November 2014 and all hedge cutting must be carried out between 1 September 2014 and the last day of February 2015. While a fund of €20,000 has been made available, the council has indicated that in the event of a large influx of applications, priority will be given to those roads that facilitate school bus and other public and special-needs transportation routes.

After cutting, please note that the Waste Management (Prohibition of Waste Disposal by Burning) Regulations 2009 make it an offence to dispose of waste by uncontrolled or unregulated burning. Exemption is provided for certain agricultural practices but only as a last resort and after specified steps are taken.

It is also worth noting that under the Forestry Act, 1946 it is illegal to uproot any tree over 10 years old or cut down any tree of any age, including trees which form part of a hedgerow, unless a felling notice has been lodged to the garda station nearest to the trees at least 21 days before felling starts. A felling notice may be obtained from any garda station or from the felling section of the Forest Service of the Department. There are limited specified exceptions where a felling notice is not required, such as where the tree is less than 100ft from a dwelling other than a wall or temporary structure.

Hedgerows along a neighbouring farmer’s property: The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 provides landowners with a right to carry out works on the boundaries between two neighbouring properties such as clearing or filling in ditches or cutting or replacing hedges.

In practical terms, the person wishing to carry out the works should obtain the adjoining landowner’s consent in advance, setting out what work is to be done, when it is intended to do the work and why it needs to be done.

However, in the event of a dispute in exercising those rights, the person wishing to carry out the works can apply to court for an order authorising the carrying out of those works.

The act provides that a person who wishes to carry out works to a party structure may do so for the purpose of complying with statutory or planning requirements, for the preservation of his property or any other works which will not cause either substantial damage or inconvenience for the adjoining owner or if they will cause such damage or inconvenience, it is nevertheless reasonable to carry them out.

The person carrying out the works shall pay the adjoining owner the reasonable costs of obtaining professional advice about the likely consequences of the works (such as engineers fees, legal advice etc) as well as reasonable compensation for inconvenience (such as where the works will interfere with the adjoining owner’s business).

However, the person who carries out the works can claim a reimbursement from the adjoining owner of such sum as will take into account the proportionate use or enjoyment which the adjoining owner will get from the works.

If the adjoining owner fails within a reasonable time to meet a claim to a contribution, the person carrying out the works can recover the contribution as a simple contract debt in court.

It is always in the best interests of all parties to achieve agreement where works are intended to be carried out to a party structure or boundary. However, where agreement cannot be reached, the act provides a welcome mechanism to resolve the matter based on defined legislative rules.