Paragraph 15 Boundary features

Changes not yet applied. Later legislation changes this provision in ways not yet written into the text below:

Sch. para. 18(2) words inserted by Common Agricultural Policy (Single Farm Payment and Support Schemes and Cross-Compliance) 2009 reg. 17
Sch. Pt. 5 inserted by Common Agricultural Policy (Single Farm Payment and Support Schemes and Cross-Compliance) 2009 reg. 18
sch. para. 11(2)(b) words substituted by Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (Consequential Modifications) 2010 art. 8

(1)

A farmer must not remove, destroy or damage drystane or flagstone dykes, turf and stone-faced banks, walls, hedges and hedgerow trees, boundary trees or watercourses which serve as boundaries to agricultural land without the prior written consent of–

(a)

the Scottish Ministers; or

(b)

by or under any enactment, another authority as shall be notified to the farmer by the Scottish Ministers when the farmer applies to them for consent.

(2)

A farmer must not trim a hedge in the period beginning on 1st March and ending on 31st July, except only to the extent necessary for the purposes of road safety.

(3)

Written consent under sub-paragraph (1) is not required to widen field entrances to enable access for livestock or farm machinery.

(4)

In this paragraph “remove, destroy or damage” does not include–

(a)

trimming a hedge; or

(b)

lopping branches from hedgerow trees.