Tree cutting permission

riddles

Hi

neighbours leylandi hedge turned into giant trees. I have permission from the owner to cut them but is the a period where tree cutting is banned for bird nesting? Trees are less than 10 metres from the house and cause a lot of shading

thx

R

CreadanLady

March to August inclusive you cannot cut trees or ditches. The only exception is if it was for a legitimate safety reason. For example, a large tree was genuinely in danger of falling onto a house or into your yard. Trees or ditches cut under feigned or trumped up spurious H&S reasons dreamt up after the fact will not cut it in court.

Section 40 of Wildlife Act 1976, as amended.

Xander10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119071583#Comment_119071583

I thought this rule didn't apply to residential gardens?

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119071592#Comment_119071592

Your not the only one.

phormium

1st March to 31st August is the closed season for trimming, that said my neighbour had all his leylandii trees/hedge trimmed last week, I had to leave the house for hours as I couldn't stick the constant noise of the trimmer things, like some giant mosquitos that wouldn't shut up!

I had some of mine trimmed summer of 2021 but that was cos they were overhanging path so council advised it was ok to do so. Mind you I have never been aware of anything nesting in the leylandi and I have had birds nesting around the garden in different hedges and ivy, they let you know if you coming near!

The Continental Op

From the link..

40. —(1) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 15th day of April and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry.

A garden isn't agriculture or forestry and I don't see how "any land not then cultivated" can refer to a garden as that is cultivated.

CreadanLady

That's it. Unless the law explicitly makes an exception, as it does for essential works by a road authority, or for cultivated land, then the restriction applies.

touts

Half the country trim the trees and bushes in their gardens during the summer months. If it is illegal then no one enforces it because if they do the courts will be clogged up for years hearing cases.

SuperBowserWorld

Or just wait until September. You've waited this long. Lelandi are a curse, but doves and pigeons do nest in them as far as I know. Maybe others. At least check.

Didn't realise the date had been moved from end of march to middle of April.

Which is strange, especially since birds are nesting earlier and earlier.

elperello

Trimming hedges ie. giving them a bit of a haircut is normal in Summer but removal and invasive maintenance is best left until after the nesting season.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119071592#Comment_119071592

It doesn't. There is no restriction on a residential setting.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119072978#Comment_119072978

The law is very specific and does not cover domestic or residential property at all.

Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 as amended by the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 and the Heritage Act 2018

CreadanLady

Is there an amended consolidation of the principal act?

Edit. I looked at the consolidated version of the act. There are various exemptions there for various things like building development, road works, health and safety reasons, emergency, agriculture, fisheries boards, etc but I don't see anything related to gardening or removal of vegetation within the curtilage ofa house or building.

Legally, it is either exempt or the reduction applies.

Am I missing something?

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119078667#Comment_119078667

It's exempt in that the land covered by the legislation is clearly stated. It says 'cultivated ' land - in legal terms cultivated land is agricultural only.

riddles

It says here “Destruction of vegetation on uncultivated land restricted

  40(1) (a)

(b)

(2) (a)

(b) (c)

(cc)

(d) (e)

(f) (g)

It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.

It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection.”

CreadanLady

Destruction of vegetation on uncultivated land restricted.

F114 [ 40. — (1) ( a ) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.

( b ) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection. ]

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply in relation to—

( a) the destroying, in the ordinary course of agriculture or forestry, of any vegetation growing on or in any hedge or ditch;

( b) the cutting or grubbing of isolated bushes or clumps of gorse, furze or whin or the mowing of isolated growths of fern in the ordinary course of agriculture;

F115 [ ( c ) the cutting, grubbing or destroying of vegetation in the course of any works being duly carried out for reasons of public health or safety by a Minister of the Government or a body established or regulated by or under a statute;

( cc ) the clearance of vegetation in the course of fisheries development works carried out by the F116 [ Inland Fisheries Ireland ] or a regional fisheries board in the exercise of its functions under the F116 [ Inland Fisheries Acts 1959 to 2010 ] ; ]

( d) the destroying of any noxious weed to which the Noxious Weeds Act, 1936, applies;

F117 [ ( e ) the clearance of vegetation in the course of road or other construction works or in the development or preparation of sites on which any building or other structure is intended to be provided; ]

( f) the removal or destruction of vegetation required by a notice served by the Minister under section 62 (1) of the Act of 1946 to be removed or destroyed;

F118 [ (g) the felling, cutting, lopping, trimming or removal of a tree, shrub, hedge or other vegetation pursuant to section 70 of the Roads Act 1993 ; ]

but this subsection shall not operate to exclude from subsection (1) of this section anything done by burning.

F119 [ (3) The Minister may request from the person concerned details of any works carried out under subsection (2)(c) and such details shall be furnished to the Minister by that person together with a statement of the public health or safety factors involved.

(4) In any proceedings taken in respect of a contravention of this section consisting of the doing of any act, it shall be a good defence to prove that the doing of that act was necessary for the purpose of extinguishing or preventing the spread of a fire while it was in progress or for the purpose of saving human life or was necessary in any other emergency in respect of which that act was an appropriate measure. ]

CreadanLady

From the above, the only get out for a garden would be for a garden to be deemed as cultivated land, which it arguably might well be. But then too, under subsection 1(b) any tree or vegetation growing on or in a ditch or hedge would be subject to the restriction.

There are exemptions for work done "in the ordinary course of agriculture or forestry". But that is obviously not gardening.

A2LUE42

Can someone point to the actual legislation that prohibits a residential garden hedge from being trimmed or removed?

Most of what is posted above is relating to scrubland or ditches and not a residential garden hedge.

A cultivated garden hedge and roadside or field separating hedgerows are not the same thing.

On the NPWS site, it states 'Restrictions on cutting hedgerows are set out in Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 as amended by the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 and the Heritage Act 2018. These Acts stipulate that it is an offence to destroy vegetation on uncultivated land between the 1st of March and the 31st of August each year. This information has already been circulated to local authorities.'

https://www.npws.ie/legislation/irish-law/restrictions-cutting-hedgerows

NUTLEY BOY

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058246097/tree-cutting-permission

Is the consent for vertical and or horizontal cutting back ? It would be good to be clear on this point to avoid post facto argument.

Have you agreed on the disposal of the cuttings ? I believe than you can offer your neighbour the cuttings that have come from your side but that you cannot simply put them over the boundary.

Leylandii - what a suburban curse. 😕

CreadanLady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119079729#Comment_119079729

Well the thing is, unless there is other legislation which permits cutting back or removing trees or hedges in a residential setting, then by default the Section 40 of the Wildlife Act will apply by default, and under that section, there is no exemption for garden or residential hedges or trees in hedges or ditches.

I'd say the reality is that it is just not enforced. Usually when it comes to private citizens cutting back illegally, it only ends up getting enforced as a result of some dispute and the offender is reported to authorities by a vexed neighbour as a punitive "put that in your pipe and smoke it" punitive action.

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119079729#Comment_119079729

It's perfectly clear from what's been posted above and what you've quoted yourself that garden hedges are indeed included in the legislation. Enforcement is an entirely different matter.

magicbastarder

from that original text quoted above, the one that's usually easiest to find:

40. —(1) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 15th day of April and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry.

that says any vegetation; not just trees or hedgerows?

Fandymo

From Gov.ie https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/f5cd9-reminder-on-hedge-cutting-and-the-law/

Fire ahead and trim those bad boys back.

For businesses, landowners and the general public the most notable of these exemptions are:

• The destruction, in the ordinary course of agriculture or forestry, of any vegetation growing on or in any hedge or ditch. In the Act, “agriculture” is defined as including horticulture. Since horticulture includes gardening, the summertime trimming of hedges in the ordinary course of gardening falls under this exemption;

magicbastarder

phew; i thought it was going to be illegal for me to harvest my garlic.

SuperBowserWorld

This sort of legislation needs to be clear about what and why in plain language.

The spirit of laws like this is to preserve and hopefully improve nature and a healthy environment for us and for future generations.

Large bottle small glass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058246097/tree-cutting-permission

Hi

I can't help you on the legalities but knocking that type of tree is labour intensive and can be very expensive between cutting and disposal. My wife's family had a similar issue with neighbour and it was done very cheaply by getting a biomass contractor to cut trees by machine on site and chip entire trees. The current high price for biomass should still make that a viable option. You'll need to ring around though

riddles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119079879#Comment_119079879

The approval is to the height to whatever needed probably gone to 60 feet now - the over hanging branches have been cut back to the boundary

wildwillow

My drive opens to a very busy L road and we trim the hedge every couple of weeks during the growing season. Otherwise it would be a traffic hazard. Doing it regularly means only the outside is affected and only a few inches of new growth removed each time.

The hedge is old and has lots of variety so don't want to damage it. Our neighbours do the same so everyone has a clear view when exiting.

The grass verge is also cut regularly as it is used like a footpath to stay off the road. No one has ever complained and no birds have been made homeless.

magicbastarder

leylandii burns like a torch if you wanted to use it as firewood. best seasoned for a couple of years though, it's quite sappy.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119081188#Comment_119081188

Agree with that, a stove is best it can spark a lot.

You could recover some of your costs in these times of high energy costs.

Need a shed or good tarp and 2 years.

riddles

This is the response from the national parks and wildlife

In any proposal to carry out any works involving the destruction of vegetation between March 1 and August 31 in any year, it is for the person proposing such works to satisfy themselves that the works are lawful - i.e. that they fall within the provisions of Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts, as amended. If necessary, independent legal advice should be sought.

NPWS cannot offer any interpretation of the legislation, merely advise on what the legislation states. A copy of the relevant legislation can be found here:  https://www.npws.ie/legislation/irish-law/restrictions-cutting-hedgerows

 

Please note the following exemption which may apply:

(a)    the destroying, in the ordinary course of agriculture or forestry, of any vegetation growing on or in any hedge or ditch

 

If the trees in question are causing a risk to your property you may need to clarify if a Tree Felling Licence is required from the Department of Agriculture.

The NPWS does not issue any licences or permits for the cutting of trees or hedges at any time of the year.

 

riddles

Hi,

would anyone have a guide price for cutting say 40 foot off an 60 ever green tree and disposing of it? Does anybody know someone in the midlands that cuts trees for biomass?

thanks,

R

CreadanLady

An everygreen tree will more than likely die if you cut that much off it. They don't re-sprout like a regular tree does.

riddles

Does anybody know a biomass outfit in the midlands that offers a tree felling service where they offset the cost of the tree cutting with them taking the timber for their own use.

in general what would a tree felling removal cost on taking about 40 foot off an evergreen tree?

CJhaughey

Too broad a question. You need to ask an Arborist. Is the area tight? Is there stuff that can be damaged ? Bucket truck or climb? All questions that need addressing before any company can quote you. Just remember a good outfit will be insured against damage. Not all people with chainsaws are insured just a word of advice.

riddles

theres A good deal of access either side wide lawns you could it with a height for Hire - nothing that can be damaged