Field boundary protection call

20 November 1998

Field boundary protection call

A HOUSE of Commons report has called on the government to introduce further legislation to protect field boundaries.

The all-party environment sub-committee report on field boundaries said too little was being done to protect hedgerows, and existing laws were "confusingly piecemeal" and "woefully inadequate".

The committee also called for a "duty of care" to be imposed on farmers to provide a basic level of field boundary maintenance in return for their right to receive farm subsidies. But it also urged the government to provide funding for the maintenance of boundaries in addition to the funds currently available for restoration work. &#42