Storm-damaged hedge in Rochester: what to check and what the rules allow
After a blow most hedges look worse than they are. This page covers what to check first, whether the hedge is likely to recover, how the nesting-season law applies, and what the Conservation Area rules say about dead or dangerous trees.
Q. There are branches hanging off and a section is leaning. What can I safely do myself?
A. If it is a low garden hedge and a few branches have splayed out, you can tie or stake them back for now and trim once things have dried out. Anything above head height, anything bent under tension (a limb that can spring when cut), or anything leaning over a pavement, road or neighbour's property is not a job to rush at with a saw. If a section is blocking the public highway, report it to the highway authority, which in Rochester is Medway Council. For work you would rather not do yourself, send us photos and a postcode through the contact page and we will quote it in the normal way.
Q. Will the hedge recover?
A. Usually, yes. The Royal Horticultural Society's weather-damage advice is that most plants damaged by wind grow out of it, and that in more serious cases you prune out the damaged growth. The thing to act on early is the roots: if a section has rocked or lifted, firm the soil back around the base, water it in if the weather is dry, and support the stems with stakes while the roots re-establish. Established deciduous hedges such as beech, hornbeam, hawthorn and privet normally regrow from cut or broken stems. Conifers such as leylandii are the exception, because they do not reliably regrow from bare, brown wood. If the main stem has snapped or the root plate has lifted, that section is unlikely to come back. A hedge that was already stressed before the storm (waterlogged clay, box blight, years of neglect) is the one that struggles.
Q. Is it worth tying split stems back together?
A. On broadleaf hedges it is often worth trying while the plant is in active growth: a clean split can be pulled back and held with soft ties, not wire, so the bark does not get cut into. It is a judgement call rather than a guarantee, and if the stem browns off, cut it back to sound wood and let the hedge regrow. Our overgrown hedge renovation Q&A covers which species can be cut back hard to recover.
Q. The storm hit in spring and there may be nests in the hedge. Can I touch anything?
A. GOV.UK is clear that you must not do any work that might harm nesting birds or destroy their nests, and gives the main breeding season as 1 March to 31 August. Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to intentionally damage or destroy an active nest, and a storm having caused the mess is not a defence for disturbing a nest while clearing it. It is not a blanket ban on all work: check carefully first, leave any section with an active nest alone, and carry out any remaining work once the young have fledged. See our guide to cutting timing and the nesting law.
Q. The damage is inside the Rochester Conservation Area. Do the notice rules still apply?
A. Routine cutting of a clipped hedge is not what the Conservation Area notice is about; it covers trees, including hedge plants that have grown out to tree form, over 75mm stem diameter at 1.5m. Medway Council gives the standard route as six weeks' written notice under section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. For dead or dangerous trees the GOV.UK guidance is different: a dead tree needs five working days' written notice before it is cut down, unless the work is urgent because of an immediate risk of serious harm. Where the danger is immediate, you give written notice as soon as practicable after the work becomes necessary, and you do only as much as removes the risk. If the danger is not immediate, the exception does not apply. Medway describes an emergency 5 day notice for a protected tree causing immediate danger to life or property. Photograph the tree before any work, keep a record of what you did and why, and expect to replant: in a conservation area the duty to plant a replacement applies where a tree is removed as dead or dangerous. Anything beyond making it safe, such as reshaping or tidying, goes through the normal notice. Our Conservation Area Q&A and the step-by-step notice guide cover the process.
Q. How do you price storm-damage clean-up?
A. The same way as any other job: from photos and a postcode, itemised by labour, waste and access, with no figure given until we have seen what is involved. A collapsed leylandii section and a few blown-off privet branches are very different jobs. See our hedge trimming costs Q&A for how a quote is broken down.
If the hedge was already struggling before the storm, say so when you ask for a quote, because sometimes the storm only reveals an underlying problem. Where a section cannot be saved, our overgrown hedge reclamation service covers the replacement route.
Want a quote for storm-damaged hedge work?
Send your postcode, a short description and a photo if you have one to hello@rochesterhedges.co.uk, or call 07763 100 477. We will come back with an itemised quote and the next available date.
Sources: GOV.UK, Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas (dead and dangerous trees, replacement duty); GOV.UK, Hedgerows: regulation and management (nesting birds, 1 March to 31 August); Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1; Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 211; Medway Council pages on protected trees and trees in conservation areas; Royal Horticultural Society, weather damage.