Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the removal of cross compliance in 2024 on hedgerows on agricultural land in terms of (a) sustainable management and (b) carbon sequestration.

Now that we have left the EU, we have an opportunity to reform our regulatory system for farming and land management to better meet the country’s needs, unconstrained by the Common Agricultural Policy. We will take this opportunity to develop a modern regulatory system that effectively targets and addresses the causes of harm but is fair to farmers and reflects the realities of farming today.

While no formal assessment of the effect of the removal of cross compliance provisions on management of hedgerows and carbon sequestration has been undertaken, we will ensure that our high environmental standards are maintained as we move away from cross compliance.

There are existing legal protections for hedgerows in England and Wales outside of cross compliance, through the Hedgerows Regulations 1997. These regulations prohibit the removal of most countryside hedgerows (or parts of them) without first seeking approval from the local planning authority. It decides whether a hedgerow is ‘important’ and should not be removed because of its wildlife, landscape, historical or archaeological value. Alongside the Hedgerows Regulations, all wild birds, their eggs and their nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which prohibits killing, injuring or taking of wild birds or taking or damaging their eggs and nests. These regulations jointly provide important protections for most countryside hedgerows and for farmland birds.

In addition to these legislative protections, our new environmental land management schemes will also continue to fund the management of hedgerows, in recognition of their historical, cultural and environmental value to our countryside.

We will also continue to keep our domestic regulatory standards under review, raising standards according to new evidence and research, in line with our ambition for an improved future regulatory system.