Roadside hedge cutting notice: Kildare County Council

If Kildare County Council has sent you a roadside hedge notice, the hedge is your responsibility to cut, trim or remove by the date on the notice. Under section 70 of the Roads Act 1993 the owner or occupier of the land has to stop a hedge becoming a hazard to people using the road. You normally have 14 days to appeal to the District Court, and if you do nothing the council can do the work itself and recover its costs from you. The cutting itself is best planned for 1 September to 28 February, outside the bird nesting season, unless the notice is about a genuine road safety risk.

What a roadside hedge notice actually is

Section 70(2) of the Roads Act 1993 does two things. First, it puts a standing duty on anyone who owns or occupies land: take all reasonable steps to make sure a tree, shrub, hedge or other vegetation on that land is not a hazard or potential hazard to people using a public road, and does not get in the way of the safe use or maintenance of the road. Second, it lets the road authority, which in this county is Kildare County Council, serve a written notice on the owner or occupier requiring the vegetation to be preserved, felled, cut, lopped, trimmed or removed within the period stated in the notice.

So the notice is not a fine and it is not a planning matter. It is the council telling you, in writing, that a hedge on your land is a problem for road users and what it wants done about it. The council's own public notice says the same in plain terms: owners and occupiers of properties that adjoin public roads must make sure vegetation on their land is not, and could not become, a danger to anyone using or working on the road, and the upkeep of roadside hedges is the responsibility of the landowner on whose land they are growing.

Examples of what that can mean on the ground: a hedge that hides a junction or a bend, branches that overhang the carriageway or footpath, growth that narrows a lane, and vegetation that blocks a road sign or a streetlight.

What to do in the first 14 days

The clock matters more than anything else on the page. Section 70(3) gives you fourteen days from the date the notice was served to appeal to the District Court, and section 70(6) says the notice does not take effect until those fourteen days have passed or, if you appeal and lose, until the court's order takes effect. Work through these steps in order.

1. Read the notice for four things.

   Which hedge or stretch of hedge it covers, exactly what work it requires, the period or date for doing it, and which municipal district office sent it. If any of those is unclear, ring that office and ask. Write down the date you received it and the date shown on it as served.

2. Photograph the hedge before you touch it.

   Take pictures from the road side and from your own side, showing height, overhang and what it blocks. If you later dispute the notice, or the council asks what was done, dated photographs before and after are the simplest proof.

3. Check the hedge is actually yours.

   Ownership is a ground of appeal. If the hedge grows on a neighbour's land, or the strip it sits on is not part of your property, say so to the council straight away and in writing. Do not cut a hedge on land that is not yours on the strength of a notice addressed to you.

4. Decide whether you disagree with it.

   The Act lists the grounds for an appeal: you are not the owner or occupier, the hedge is not a hazard and does not interfere with the road, compliance would involve unreasonable expense, or the notice gives an unreasonably short time. If one of those fits, ring the municipal district office first and, if it is not resolved, get legal advice well inside the 14 days.

5. Plan the cutting for the right months.

   Kildare County Council's current notice gives 1 September 2026 to 28 February 2027 as the period when hedgerows can be cut. Work out whether that fits the deadline on your notice. The next section covers what to do if it does not.

6. Get a written quote if someone else will do the work.

   Ask what is included, whether the cuttings are taken away, and whether VAT is in the price. A quote you can compare line by line is worth more than a cheaper figure over the phone.

7. Keep the paperwork.

   Keep the notice, your photographs, the quote, the invoice and any message with the council in one place.

The nesting season and the deadline on your notice

The most common trap is a deadline that falls in spring or summer. Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976, as amended, prohibits cutting, grubbing, burning or destroying vegetation on uncultivated land, including hedges, from 1 March to 31 August. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) says the Minister has no discretion to change those dates. The council's notice describes September to February as the period when hedgerows are dormant.

The law does have exemptions. NPWS says they include works for public health and safety reasons, including road safety, and that the legislation allows landowners and public authorities to address hedges for road safety reasons at any time of the year. That is not a licence to trim a hedge in June because it is convenient. It means a hedge that is a real hazard to road users can be dealt with out of season, and a hedge that is merely untidy cannot.

A worked example with the dates

Take a notice served on Monday 12 October 2026. Fourteen days from that date is Monday 26 October, so that is the last day to lodge an appeal. The hedge window runs from 1 September 2026 to 28 February 2027, which is 181 days, and the notice was served 41 days into it, leaving 139 days of cutting season. There is plenty of time to get quotes and book the work.

Now change one thing. The same notice is served on Monday 15 February 2027. The window closes on 28 February, 13 days later. That is less time than the appeal period itself, and a contractor may not be able to start straight away. This is exactly the case where you should ring the municipal district office on day one, ask what date the council will accept and get the answer in writing. Leaving it until March puts you between a council deadline and a legal restriction on cutting.

What happens if nothing is done

Section 70 gives the council several routes. It is an offence for an owner or occupier to fail to comply with a notice. The road authority may also take the action specified in the notice itself, and where it does it may recover any reasonable costs from the owner or occupier as a simple contract debt. Where it considers a hedge presents an immediate and serious hazard, it can take immediate action to reduce or remove the hazard without waiting for the notice period, and it must then serve a notice on the owner or occupier saying what it has done.

In practice this means that doing nothing does not make the problem go away. It hands the decision, the contractor and the invoice to the council. If you are going to pay for the hedge to be cut either way, it is better to choose who does it and when.

Cutting a hedge beside a road is not a casual job

Section 70(12) places a duty on whoever carries out the work. A person who cuts, lops, trims or removes a hedge under this section has to take all reasonable measures to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of people using the public road, and breaching that is an offence. The council's own notice says all reasonable care should be taken to protect road users while the work is going on.

That is the real difference between a hedge at the back of a garden and one beside a lane. Cuttings land on the carriageway, a hedge trimmer on a ladder is a hazard to passing traffic, and the road may need to be kept clear or signed while work is under way. If you are doing it yourself, work out how you will keep the road safe before you start. If you are paying someone, ask how they will do it.

Who can cut the hedge for you

You can do it yourself, ask a neighbour, or hire a gardener or hedge-cutting contractor. Whoever does it, the duty and the deadline stay with you as owner or occupier.

When you ask for a quote, make it easy to compare. Say that it is for a hedge beside a public road, give the length and a rough height and send photographs. Then check each quote says: the length and height to be cut and the finished size; whether the cuttings are removed or left; how the road will be kept safe; whether the hedge will be checked for nests before cutting; the date, with the council's deadline in mind; and whether VAT is included. Revenue's VAT rates database shows the rate that applies to the work, and not every contractor is VAT registered, so two quotes can differ by the VAT alone.

Kildare Plant & Garden Solutions cuts and reduces hedges across Kilcullen, Naas, Newbridge and the rest of County Kildare. Seanie starts with a site visit: he looks at the hedge, checks access and tells you honestly whether it is a job for his team. The quote is in writing, free, subject to the job and the location, and says what is included. His work is planned around the nesting season, and a hedge is checked for nests before cutting starts. You can read more on the hedge cutting and tree work page. If you want to know what regular upkeep of a garden costs once a hedge is back under control, garden maintenance prices in Kildare sets out the published ranges.

Keeping the hedge from becoming a notice again

A hedge that has been hard cut is easier to keep in order than one that is allowed to run away again. Plan one proper trim in the dormant months, from September to February, and book it early in that window rather than at the end. Nesting birds are the reason for the restriction, so a hedge should be looked over for nests before any cutting starts. Keeping the road side clear of growth that overhangs the carriageway or footpath is the part the council cares about most. Photograph it each year so you can show what it looked like.

If you own several properties, a farm or an estate with road frontage, the same duty applies to every stretch. Our guide to questions to ask before hiring a landscaper works for any outdoor contractor, and the garden maintenance page explains how regular visits are set up.