COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, January 13, 2025
QUESTION NO. 8
QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons
To ask the Chief Executive for a report on what can South Dublin County Council do to protect hedgerows throughout South Dublin County Council, report to include enforcement process.
REPLY:
South Dublin County has a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, including insects, birds, fish and micro-organisms and their habitats in which they live and interact, such as grasslands, woodlands, streams, hedgerows, boglands, public parks and private gardens.
Ireland is a signatory to the Convention of Biological Diversity and has developed its National Biodiversity Action Plan in line with EU and International Biodiversity strategies and policies. In 2019 the Dáil and South Dublin County Council separately declared a climate and biodiversity emergency. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 sets out measures to protect 30% of EU land and sea territory with 10% of this ‘strictly protected’ and sets out measures aimed to achieve this. The importance of biodiversity and landscape in Ireland is underpinned by National Strategic Outcome 7 ‘Enhanced Amenity and Heritage’ of the National Planning Framework and associated strategic investment priorities in the implementation of the National Biodiversity Action Plan. NPO 59 of the National Planning Framework and RPO 7.15 and 7.16 of the RSES reinforce the need to ensure protection and enhancement of environments and habitats. The role of biodiversity is further strengthened with the adoption of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (2021-2025) providing for natural management measures to protect native species.
Hedgerows often mark historic field patterns and townland boundaries and significantly enhance the landscape character of rural areas. Trees and hedgerows also perform a vital role as wildlife habitats, biodiversity corridors and essential green elements in the County’s green infrastructure network. They have a further crucial role in carbon sequestration (capturing and storing carbon), contributing to the alleviation of climate change.
In relation to the protection of hedgerows across the county; SDCC's County Development Plan has several Policies and Objectives that specify the requirement to protect and enhance hedgerows. These policies and objectives are particularly strong when land is subject to development that requires planning permission. The enforcement of these policies and objectives are set out in national planning legislation. These policies and objectives include the ones set out below
Policy NCBH2: Biodiversity: Protect, conserve, and enhance the County’s biodiversity and ecological connectivity having regard to national and EU legislation and Strategies.
NCBH2 Objective 3: To protect and conserve the natural heritage of the County, and to conserve and manage EU and nationally designated sites and non-designated locally important areas which act as ‘stepping stones’ for the purposes of green infrastructure and Article 10 of the Habitats Directive.
NCB9 Objective 4: To ensure that development along and adjacent to the Grand Canal protects and incorporates natural heritage features including watercourses, wetlands, grasslands, woodlands, mature trees, hedgerows and ditches and includes an appropriate set-back distance or buffer area from the pNHA boundary to facilitate protected species and biodiversity and a fully functioning Green Infrastructure network.
NCBH11 Objective 3: To protect and retain existing trees, hedgerows, and woodlands which are of amenity and / or biodiversity and / or carbon sequestration value and / or contribute to landscape character and ensure that proper provision is made for their protection and management taking into account Living with Trees: South Dublin County Council’s Tree Management Policy (2015-2020) or any superseding document and to ensure that where retention is not possible that a high value biodiversity provision is secured as part of the phasing of any development to protect the amenity of the area.
NCBH11 Objective 4: To protect the hedgerows of the County, acknowledging their role as wildlife habitats, biodiversity corridors, links within the County’s green infrastructure network, their visual amenity and landscape character value and their significance as demarcations of historic field patterns and townland boundaries. (Refer also to Chapter 4: Green Infrastructure).
NCBH11 Objective 5: To ensure that intact hedgerows / trees will be maintained above the 120m contour line within the County ensuring that the strong rural character will not be diluted and that important heritage features and potential wildlife corridors are protected.
GI1 Objective 1: To establish a coherent, integrated and evolving GI Network across South Dublin County with parks, open spaces, hedgerows, trees including public street trees and native mini woodlands (Miyawaki-Style), grasslands, protected areas and rivers and streams and other green and blue assets forming strategic links and to integrate and incorporate the objectives of the GI Strategy throughout all relevant land use plans and development in the County.
GI2 Objective 2: To protect and enhance the biodiversity and ecological value of the existing GI network by protecting where feasible (and mitigating where removal is unavoidable) existing ecological features including tree stands, woodlands, hedgerows and watercourses in all new developments as an essential part of the design and construction process, such proactive approach to include provision to inspect development sites post construction to ensure hedgerow coverage has been protected as per the plan.
GI2 Objective 5: To protect and enhance the County’s hedgerow network, in particular hedgerows that form townland, parish and barony boundaries recognising their historic and cultural importance in addition to their ecological importance and increase hedgerow coverage using locally native species including a commitment for no net loss of hedgerows on any development site and to take a proactive approach to protection and enforcement.
SDCC's tree management policy: Living with Trees 2021-2026 sets out the policies relating to the management of trees; (which includes trees within hedgerows) on council-owned public lands. It includes the following policy:
Policy: The Council will wherever possible try to avoid removing a tree or undertaking unnecessary pruning works where there is no good arboriculture reason. It has a duty to manage the tree population for the benefit of the wider community and in accordance with good arboriculture practices.
In relation to the general protection of hedgerows across the county:
The Wildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000, and EU Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC legally protect hedgerows if they contain a bat roost, meaning that a licence from the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) is required for any disturbance. Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 is also pertinent to the management of hedgerows as it prohibits cutting, burning, or otherwise destroying vegetation between 1st March to 31st August to protect nesting birds.
The EU Nature Restoration Law was adopted in June 2024. Article 11 sets out targets for Member States to achieve increasing trends in the grassland butterfly index, stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soils, and share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features, such as hedgerows. There are other targets for forestry, aquatic ecosystems, and urban areas. Measures for individual landowners will be voluntary and financially incentivised through various schemes. The new law is mandatory for Ireland as an EU Member State, with a legal obligation to meet the targets for nature restoration.
For farmland; the Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2027 sets out a ‘Space for Nature’ requirement, which falls under the Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) No. 8. The implementation required to achieve the standard is as follows:
"GAEC will apply to all agricultural area, with certain limited exceptions. Farmers will be required to provide ‘space for nature’ features on at least 4% of holding area. Features will include (inter alia) land lying fallow, hedgerows, drains/ditches, buffer strips, stone walls, ponds, habitats, monuments, scrub, rock, etc. Certain landscape features are designated, e.g., hedgerows, ponds, archaeological monuments, and restrictions will apply on their removal. Hedgerow removal is only permitted in exceptional cases and under certain conditions"
(CAP Strategic Plan 2023 - 2027 Summary Ireland. Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, November 2022).
The EIA (Agriculture) Regulations 2011 apply to farmers and proposals for certain hedgerow removal involve an initial screening process followed by an EIA if deemed necessary. The mandatory thresholds for screening are either 500m of hedgerow and / or the restructuring of greater than 5ha of land by the removal of field boundaries. If these thresholds increase to 4km and / or 50ha respectively, a mandatory EIA is required. The Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) Regulations Information Leaflet for Farmers (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine), specifies that sub-threshold works must still go through screening if they “may have a significant effect on the environment”.
In a reply to the Clondalkin, Newcastle, Rathcoole, Saggart and Brittas Area Committee meeting in November 2024, the Land-Use Planning and Transport Dept (LUPT) noted that the Agriculture (EIA) Regulations require screening for such works in a nature area, defined in the Regulations as including ‘a place, site or feature of ecological interest, the preservation, conservation or protection of which is an objective of a development plan or local area plan (within the meaning of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2010), draft development plan or draft local area plan, or proposed variation of a development plan, for the area in which the development is proposed’.
In this regard, a number of objectives in the County Development Plan 2022-2028 (see above) were referenced as having relevance to the definition of ‘nature area’
As the implementation of the EIA (Agriculture) regulations is the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine; LUPT sent an email seeking the setting up of a protocol between the Department and South Dublin County Council which would ensure that the objectives of the County Development Plan are taken account of in the consideration of any screening or relevant enforcement process.
The Department responded by email on 31st October 2024 acknowledging the email and advising that the correspondence had been brought to the attention of their Section Manager who in turn will bring it to the attention of the relevant officials within the Forestry Division (in relation to trees). It was also indicated that the email would be forwarded to the Environmental Impact Assessment section of the Department (in relation to hedgerows). This latter was forwarded to their EIA section on 1 November 2024. SDCC await a reply to progress the protocol and LUPT intend to follow up on same in 2025.