For hedges that have gone past the point where trimming will fix them — height brought down, width pulled back, shape restored.
A hedge that has been cut once a year stays where it is. A hedge that has been left for five or ten years does not — it gets taller, wider, and thinner at the base, and by then a trim will not bring it back. That is reduction rather than maintenance, and it is a different job.
Typically this means taking two or three metres off the height, pulling the sides back hard to recover a path or driveway, and reshaping so it can be kept in check with ordinary trimming afterwards.
Leylandii, and most conifers, will not regrow from old brown wood. Cut into the green and it recovers; cut back past the green into bare brown stems and that face stays brown permanently.
This matters enormously for an overgrown conifer hedge, because the width you want back may simply not be available without leaving a dead-looking wall. We will tell you how far we can safely take it before we start. If a hedge genuinely cannot be reduced to what you need, removal and replanting is sometimes the more honest answer, and we will say so.
Broadleaf hedges — beech, hornbeam, privet, laurel, hawthorn — are far more forgiving and will usually regenerate from hard pruning.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is an offence to intentionally damage or destroy an active bird's nest. The main nesting season runs from 1 March to 31 August.
That is not a ban on cutting hedges in summer, and it is often reported as though it were. It is an offence to damage a nest that is in use, so the obligation is to check properly first and to stop if a nest is found. We check before starting, and where a hedge is clearly in heavy use we will recommend waiting rather than risk it. Outside the season, work can go ahead without that concern.
You are entitled to cut branches that cross your boundary, back to the boundary line but no further — and strictly speaking the cuttings belong to your neighbour. You cannot reach over and reduce their side.
Where an evergreen hedge is genuinely blocking light, councils can deal with complaints about high hedges. The rules are narrower than most people expect: it has to be a line of two or more mostly evergreen trees or shrubs, over two metres tall, on someone else's land, and harming the reasonable enjoyment of your home. A single tree does not qualify. You normally have to show you tried to resolve it with your neighbour first, and there is usually a fee.
Worth knowing: the council cannot order a hedge to be removed, cannot require it cut below two metres, and cannot require anything that would kill it. It can require a reduction to a height that solves the problem. Your council can confirm how it handles complaints.
There is no outright ban at any time of year. What the law prohibits is intentionally damaging or destroying an active nest, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The main nesting season is 1 March to 31 August, so hedges are checked before work starts during those months, and we stop if we find a nest in use.
Partly. Conifers do not regrow from brown wood, so we can only reduce into growth that still has green on it. Beyond that point the face stays brown for good. We will tell you how far yours can realistically be taken before starting. Broadleaf hedges like beech, laurel and privet regenerate far better.
You may cut anything overhanging your boundary, back to the line but no further. For an evergreen hedge over two metres that is genuinely harming enjoyment of your home, councils can consider a high hedge complaint, though you normally need to show you tried to resolve it directly first and there is usually a fee. The council cannot order removal, only a reduction in height.
On broadleaf species, hard. On conifers, only as far as the green growth goes. We will walk the hedge with you and agree a finished height and width before any cutting starts.
Yes. Reduction work produces a lot of material and removal is included in the quoted price unless you would rather keep some for a habitat pile or compost.
Send a photo and the address and we will come back to you with a clear price.
