← All guides · Rules & paperwork · Updated September 2026

Removing a hedgerow in Gravesham: the 42-day notice the Hedgerow Regulations 1997 require before you start.

In the Gravesham borough villages of Higham, Chalk, Shorne, Cobham and Meopham, many of the hedgerows dividing fields and paddocks are not yours to grub out without first asking the council. The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 require a written notification to Gravesham Borough Council at least 42 days before any removal work starts. Skip that step and you face an unlimited fine, and the council can require you to replace the hedgerow. The check takes minutes; the process is free; the penalty for bypassing it is not.

What the law says

The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/1160), made under the Environment Act 1995, impose a notification requirement before any person removes a "hedgerow" to which the Regulations apply. The Regulations define their scope precisely:

• Length threshold: the hedgerow must be more than 20 metres long (gaps of up to 20 metres do not break it up), or, if shorter, must meet another hedgerow at each end (meaning it forms part of a connected network of field boundaries).
• Land type: the hedgerow must be on or next to land used for agriculture or forestry, land used for breeding or keeping horses, ponies or donkeys, common land, a village green, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a protected European site, a local or national nature reserve, or land belonging to the state. A hedgerow in, or marking the boundary of, a private garden is not protected.

If both conditions are met, the hedgerow is a "relevant hedgerow" under the Regulations, and no removal work may begin until a Hedgerow Removal Notice has been submitted to Gravesham Borough Council in writing and the 42-day period has run.

The 42-day period is not a rubber stamp: Gravesham Borough Council is required, within those 42 days, to determine whether the hedgerow is "important" under the criteria set out in Schedule 1 of the Regulations. If it is important, the council can issue a Hedgerow Retention Notice prohibiting removal, and the hedgerow then cannot be removed unless the council later withdraws the notice. If the council gives written permission or lets the 42 days pass without a retention notice, the removal may proceed, but you have up to two years from the date of the notice to carry it out. The 42 days can be extended if you agree in writing.

Penalty for unlawful removal: removing a relevant hedgerow without first submitting a valid notice, or removing one that is the subject of a retention notice, is a criminal offence carrying an unlimited fine, and the council can serve a replacement notice requiring you to replant.

This obligation is entirely separate from the Tree Preservation Order regime, from the section 211 conservation area notice, and from the High Hedges complaint process: it applies to the hedgerow itself, as a feature of the agricultural or rural landscape, not to individual stems or trees within it, and not to residential boundary hedges between neighbouring gardens.

Does your hedgerow qualify? A three-question check

Most of the hedgerows affected in Gravesham sit in the open countryside: the North Kent farmland between the A2 and the Downs, the Thames-side fields around Chalk and Higham, and the older paddock networks around the Cobham and Meopham villages. Urban and suburban garden hedges in Gravesend and Northfleet are generally not covered. Work through these three questions before proceeding:

1. Is the land agricultural, forestry or equestrian? If the hedgerow bounds or crosses a working field, a commercial wood, a paddock used for horses, ponies or donkeys, a village green, common land, or a SSSI or Local Nature Reserve, the Regulations apply. A domestic garden, even a large one, is not qualifying land. A paddock that has been converted entirely into a domestic garden can be borderline: if in any doubt, treat it as qualifying and submit a notice.
2. Is the hedgerow 20 metres or more in length, or does it join another hedgerow at each end? Measure the full run from one gap or corner to the next. Most field-boundary hedgerows in Higham, Chalk and Cobham are far longer than 20 metres. A shorter spur hedge that connects to the main boundary network at both ends is still covered.
3. Do you intend to remove it? "Remove" under the Regulations means grubbing out, cutting at ground level, or any works that would result in the loss of the hedgerow as a continuous feature. Routine cutting, trimming, coppicing and laying are maintenance activities, not removal, and do not trigger the notice requirement. However, reducing a hedgerow to a line of isolated stumps that will not regenerate is treated as removal in practice: if the intended work would eliminate the hedgerow's function as a connected structure, treat it as removal.

If all three answers are yes, submit a Hedgerow Removal Notice before any work begins.

The "important" hedgerow criteria

A relevant hedgerow is "important" under Schedule 1 of the Regulations if it has existed for at least 30 years and satisfies at least one of the following criteria:

• Archaeological or historical value: it marks all or part of a parish boundary that existed before 1850; it contains an archaeological feature such as a scheduled monument, or lies in or next to an archaeological site recorded on the Historic Environment Record; it marks the boundary of an estate or manor, or is visibly related to a building or feature of an estate or manor, that existed before 1600; or it is part of a field system, or visibly related to a feature of one, that pre-dates the Inclosure Acts.
• Wildlife value: it contains protected species listed in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (certain birds, animals and plants), or species categorised as endangered, vulnerable or rare in the British Red Data Books.
• Woody species: it includes enough woody species within a 30-metre stretch, usually at least seven, or six with particular associated features, or five with four such features, as set out in Schedule 1 (one fewer in some northern counties, which does not include Kent).

Many of the hedgerows around Cobham and Meopham are old enough to be important on historical grounds alone: the field patterns in that part of Gravesham are largely pre-enclosure, and a hedgerow marking a centuries-old parish boundary will usually satisfy the 30-year requirement by a wide margin. A species-diverse hedgerow can also qualify on the woody-species count alone, but the council applies the Schedule 1 tests, so do not assume either way.

Gravesham Borough Council's planning officers make the importance determination, which is why the notice submission must include enough information for that assessment: a plan showing the hedgerow's location, and a brief description of the surrounding land use and the reasons for proposing removal.

Submitting the Hedgerow Removal Notice: the five steps

Step 1: Prepare your plan

The notice must identify the hedgerow to be removed on a plan. The council will explain what plan it needs; a scaled map extract with the hedgerow or section to be removed marked clearly is the usual starting point. If you are removing only part of a longer hedgerow, mark the exact section, measured in metres from a fixed reference point such as a gate, corner or roadside. A rough sketch plan is not sufficient: the notice must allow the planning officer to locate the hedgerow on the ground without ambiguity.

Step 2: Set out the reasons for removal

The notice must state the reasons for the proposed removal. This is not a lengthy planning statement: a clear, honest explanation of the purpose (access creation, field enlargement, infrastructure installation, replacement with fencing) is what is required. The council uses the reasons when deciding whether to issue a retention notice, particularly in assessing whether there are "circumstances which justify the removal" of an important hedgerow under the Regulations.

Step 3: Submit to Gravesham Borough Council in writing

Send the completed notice, the plan and the statement of reasons to Gravesham Borough Council's planning department. The notice can be submitted by post or by email. Confirm the current preferred submission method and any Hedgerow Removal Notice form in use with Gravesham Borough Council directly before sending: contact details and the preferred form are available from the council's planning department. Keep a dated copy of your submission and a record of receipt.

Step 4: Wait for the council's response

Within 42 calendar days, Gravesham Borough Council will either:

• Issue a Hedgerow Retention Notice, prohibiting removal for two years, if it determines the hedgerow is important.
• Issue written consent to proceed with the removal.
• Allow the 42-day period to expire without issuing a retention notice, after which removal may proceed.

If the council issues a retention notice and you believe the decision is wrong, you can appeal, and GOV.UK says the appeal must be made within 28 days of the date of the council's decision letter. Seek planning advice before appealing, because the appeal will look at the importance criteria in Schedule 1 in detail.

Step 5: Time the removal works within the nesting-season window

In practice, the Hedgerow Regulations 42-day notice and the Wildlife and Countryside Act nesting-season constraint together mean that planning for hedgerow removal in spring or summer is usually impossible without legal risk on one or both counts. The workable window is clear: submit your notice in early July or August at the latest so the 42-day period expires before 1 September, allowing removal to proceed through the winter.

Why this matters in the Gravesham countryside

The hedgerow network around Higham, Chalk and Shorne predates the modern field pattern. The Thames-side fields below Gravesend and in the Higham Marshes area retain linear boundary hedgerows that in some cases mark enclosure boundaries hundreds of years old. Further south, the Cobham and Meopham parishes contain some of the most intact medieval field systems in north-west Kent: the enclosed common-field strips are still traceable in the hedgerow pattern, and a number of hedgerows in this area are likely to qualify as important under the historical and archaeological criteria in Schedule 1.

Developers, farmers and landowners sometimes assume that hedgerows bordering agricultural land can be removed with the same informality as a domestic garden hedge. That assumption is wrong in Gravesham, and the consequences of acting on it are a criminal record, an unlimited fine and a replanting obligation at your own expense. Old field-boundary hedgerows are part of the structure of the landscape, and the law protects them precisely because they cannot be replaced on any reasonable timescale.

What the Regulations do not cover

Domestic garden hedges between neighbouring properties are not covered by the Hedgerows Regulations 1997, however old they are or however tall they have grown. The relevant law for residential boundary hedge disputes is the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, Part 8 (the High Hedges regime), and the boundary-cutback right under common law. See the separate guides on this site for both of those.

The Regulations also do not apply to a hedgerow that is being removed specifically to enable development that already has planning permission: permitted development and planning consents can carry conditions dealing with hedgerow protection, and you should read any planning conditions carefully before assuming that a granted consent overrides the Hedgerow Regulations. Check the specific wording with a planning adviser if in doubt.

Hedgerows within or adjacent to a Gravesham conservation area may carry a further layer of protection if any stems have grown to qualifying tree size under section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990: see the separate guide on conservation area hedge and tree rules.

Sources: The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/1160), including Schedule 1 (important hedgerow criteria), at legislation.gov.uk; Environment Act 1995, Part V (legislation.gov.uk); Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1 (legislation.gov.uk); Natural England, "Hedgerow survey handbook" (2nd ed.); Hedgelink, "Protection of hedgerows" guidance (hedgelink.org.uk); RSPB, "Planning for nature toolkit: hedgerow protection" (rspb.org.uk).