Hedge Cutting In Belfast
Hedge Trimming Belfast
Straight tops, clean faces and all the arisings taken away. CSW trims hedges across Belfast on a regular round or as a one off, and we work to the Northern Ireland nesting season rather than pretending it does not exist.
Hedges Cut At The Right Time, To The Right Height
A hedge is the cheapest garden boundary there is until it gets away from you, and then it is the most expensive to bring back. Most of the hedges we are called out to in Belfast fall into two groups. There are the ones on a regular round, beech, privet, hornbeam or laurel, kept at a sensible size with two or three cuts a year. And there are the ones somebody stopped cutting eight years ago, usually a leylandii or a Castlewellan gold, now twenty feet high and shading out the neighbour's kitchen.
Both are perfectly manageable, but they are different jobs with different timing. A maintenance trim is quick and can be done through much of the year. Taking three metres off a mature evergreen is a structural decision about the plant, it wants doing in the right season, and on some species it is not recoverable, which is something we would rather tell you before we start than after.
There are also two pieces of Northern Ireland law that bear directly on hedge work, and it is worth knowing them whether you are the one with the hedge or the one looking at it over the fence.
Regular Maintenance Cuts
Formal hedges kept to a line, two or three visits a year depending on the species and how fast it grows. Tops levelled, faces cut back to the same plane each time so the hedge thickens rather than opening up at the base.
Height Reduction
Bringing an overgrown hedge back down to something you can maintain from the ground. On beech, privet, hornbeam and yew this is straightforward. On leylandii it needs care, because cut back into old brown wood it does not regrow.
Clearance And Removal
All arisings collected and taken away, the base cleared, and the path or driveway swept. If the hedge is coming out entirely rather than being cut, we can take the stumps and put a fence or a wall in its place.
Why Belfast Gardens Use CSW
We Work The Nesting Season
Heavy work is planned for September to February. We will tell you if what you are asking for should wait, rather than taking the booking and cutting through a nest.
Everything Taken Away
The arisings from a hard reduction fill a lot more space than people expect. Clearing and disposal is part of the job, not an extra line at the end.
Local Family Business
Based in Belfast, serving the surrounding areas of Northern Ireland. The same faces on a regular round rather than whoever the agency sent.
Honest About The Plant
Some evergreens do not come back from a hard cut. We would rather lose the job than leave you with a row of brown sticks you cannot fix.
The Rest Of The Garden Too
Lawn cutting, pruning, power washing and full landscaping are all in house, so a hedge visit can pick up the rest of the garden in the same trip.
50 Years Of Combined Experience
Skilled hands across building and landscaping, which matters when a hedge is coming out and something has to go in where it stood.
Hedges And The Law In Northern Ireland
Two pieces of Northern Ireland legislation come up constantly on hedge jobs, and both are frequently misunderstood. Neither is a reason to avoid cutting a hedge. They are a reason to get the timing and the expectations right first. This is general guidance rather than advice about your particular hedge, and your district council is the authority on a specific complaint.
The Bird Nesting Season, 1 March To 31 August
The Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 makes it an offence to disturb a wild bird while it is building a nest, or while it is in, on or near a nest containing eggs or young. The nesting season is taken as 1 March to 31 August, and under DAERA's cross compliance rules hedge, tree and scrub cutting is not carried out during it. There is a narrow exception for roadside hedges where there is a clear health and safety issue.
In practice that means the heavy work, the hard reductions and the reshaping, is a September to February job. It is not a technicality. A dense laurel or leylandii in a Belfast garden is exactly where blackbirds, wrens and dunnocks nest, and a hedge cutter does not give them time to move.
- Plan any serious reduction for the autumn or winter and you will get a better result on the plant as well.
- Light maintenance in season is only done after checking the hedge for active nests, section by section.
- If we find a nest mid job, that section waits. There is no way around it and we will not pretend otherwise.
The High Hedges Act (Northern Ireland) 2011
If a neighbour's hedge is blocking your light, your district council can adjudicate under the High Hedges Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. The Act only covers a high hedge, which it defines as a barrier to light formed wholly or predominantly by a line of two or more evergreens. A single tree is not covered. A deciduous beech hedge is generally not covered either.
The number people get wrong is the height. A council remedial notice cannot require the hedge to be reduced to less than two metres above ground level. So a complaint will not get a neighbour's hedge taken down to a metre, and it will not get it removed.
- The complaint route is a last resort. You have to show the council you tried to resolve it with the hedge owner first.
- The council charges a fee, capped at £360, which is refunded where the complaint is upheld and remedial action follows.
- The council adjudicates. It does not mediate or negotiate between the two of you.
Where A Hedge Meets A Boundary Or A Road
If you are thinking of taking a hedge out and putting a fence or wall in its place, the height rules change. Under the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 a wall, fence, gate or other means of enclosure is permitted up to two metres in height generally, but only one metre where it adjoins a road or a footpath.
That is a real trap on a corner plot or a front garden in Belfast. A two metre hedge along the footpath is fine, because a hedge is not a means of enclosure in that sense, but replacing it with a two metre fence in the same line is not.
- Open plan and shared surface estates commonly have these rights restricted altogether. Ask the council before you order the fencing.
- An Article 4 direction on your street removes permitted development rights. Belfast City Council has made them, Malone Park being a published example.
- Overhanging branches from a neighbour's hedge are a separate common law question and are not covered by the High Hedges Act.
The Hedges We Cut Most In Belfast
Leylandii And Castlewellan Gold
The species behind most high hedge complaints in Northern Ireland, and the one that needs the most care. A leylandii will take a trim on the current season's green growth all day, but cut back into old brown wood and it does not regrow. There is no recovery from that.
So a height reduction on a mature leylandii is a one way decision. We will tell you honestly what it will look like afterwards, and on some hedges the sensible advice is to take it out entirely and put in something you can actually keep at the height you want.
Beech, Hornbeam And Privet
The forgiving ones. Beech and hornbeam hold their brown leaf through winter, which is why they are worth having as a screen, and both take hard pruning well. Privet is close to indestructible and will come back from being cut to a stump.
These are the hedges where a genuine height reduction is worth doing, because in two or three seasons you will not be able to see where the cut was.
Laurel And Griselinia
Common in Belfast gardens and both fast growing. Laurel has a large leaf that looks poor when it is cut with a hedge trimmer, because the blade shreds the foliage and the edges brown off. Where the finish matters we cut laurel back with secateurs or a pruner instead, which takes longer and looks considerably better.
Griselinia is soft and quick and takes a trim easily, though it dislikes a hard frost and a severe cut going into a cold winter is not a good idea.
Boundary Hedges And Shared Responsibility
A hedge on a boundary usually belongs to somebody, and the deeds are what settle it. We will cut your side of a shared hedge without touching the neighbour's, and where the whole hedge needs doing it is far cheaper for both households to book it together.
Note that Northern Ireland has no Party Wall Act, so there is no statutory process governing work at a boundary here in the way there is in England and Wales. A conversation with the neighbour first is worth more than anything else you can do.
How A Hedge Job Runs
We Look At It First
Species, height, condition and access. On anything that needs a hard reduction we would rather see it before quoting, because the honest answer depends entirely on what the plant is.
Timing Agreed
Maintenance cuts can generally be booked when suits. Heavy reductions go in the diary for September to February, so the work does not run into the nesting season.
Site Protection
Beds, paths and anything under the hedge get sheeted before we start, because the volume of material coming off a mature hedge surprises everybody.
Cut And Shape
Faces cut back to a consistent plane and the top levelled to a line rather than by eye, so the hedge stays square and thickens up instead of drifting outward each year.
Clear And Remove
Everything collected, the base of the hedge raked out, and the path or driveway swept. Arisings taken away the same day.
What Happens Next
We will tell you when it should be done again and whether the hedge is on a sensible trajectory. If it is on a round, the next visit goes in the diary before we leave.
Frequently Asked Questions
When can you cut my hedge in Northern Ireland?
Light maintenance can be done through much of the year, but the heavy work is planned for September to February. The Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 makes it an offence to disturb a nesting bird, and the nesting season runs from 1 March to 31 August. Under DAERA's cross compliance rules hedge and scrub cutting is not carried out during it, with a narrow exception for roadside hedges where there is a clear health and safety issue.
Can I make my neighbour cut their hedge down?
You can complain to your district council under the High Hedges Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, but it is a last resort and you have to show you tried to resolve it with the hedge owner first. The Act only covers a high hedge, meaning a barrier to light formed wholly or predominantly by a line of two or more evergreens. A single tree is not covered.
How far down can a council make a neighbour cut a hedge?
Not below two metres. A remedial notice under the High Hedges Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 cannot require the hedge to be reduced to less than two metres above ground level, and it cannot require removal. If you were expecting a complaint to get the hedge taken down to head height, it will not.
Does the council charge for a high hedge complaint?
Yes. The council sets its own fee up to a maximum of £360, and it is refunded where the complaint is found justified and remedial action follows. The council acts as an impartial adjudicator rather than a mediator, so it will not negotiate between you and your neighbour.
Will my leylandii grow back if you cut it hard?
Not if we cut into old brown wood. Leylandii and Castlewellan gold only regrow from green growth, so a hard reduction into bare wood is permanent. We will show you where that line falls on your hedge before we start, and if the height you want is below it we will say so and talk about replacing the hedge instead.
Do you take the cuttings away?
Yes, disposal is part of the job. It matters more than people expect, because a mature hedge reduction produces a great deal more material than the finished pile of hedge suggests. We collect, rake out the base and sweep the path or driveway before we leave.
Can I put a fence up where the hedge was?
Usually, but watch the height. Under the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 a fence or wall is permitted up to two metres generally, but only one metre where it adjoins a road or footpath. So a two metre hedge along a front footpath cannot simply be swapped for a two metre fence. Open plan estates often have these rights restricted altogether.
Can you cut just my side of a shared hedge?
Yes, and we do it regularly. Northern Ireland has no Party Wall Act, so there is no statutory procedure covering boundary work here, and we will not touch anything on the neighbour's side without their say so. Where both households want the whole hedge done it is considerably cheaper booked together.
How often should a hedge be cut?
It depends on the species. Fast growers like leylandii, laurel and griselinia want two or three cuts a year to stay in shape. Beech, hornbeam and yew are comfortable with one, usually late summer. We will tell you which your hedge is and put the next visit in the diary rather than leaving you to remember.
What if you find a bird nesting while you are cutting?
That section stops. Disturbing a bird in, on or near a nest containing eggs or young is an offence under the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, and there is no way round it. We will finish the sections that are clear, tell you what we found, and come back for the rest once the nest is empty.
More Gardening & Grounds Care From CSW
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Send us a photo of the hedge or ask us to call out and look at it. We will tell you what it needs, what it will look like afterwards and the right time of year to do it. No charge for the visit.
- Call us: 07703 433214
- Email: Cswbuild@gmail.com
- Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland