‘We have ditches in the district that haven’t been cut in 20 years’ — Overgrown hedges causing €2k damage to Wexford vehicles

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Hedge cutting season may have officially begun, but motorists across the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD) are continuing to fall foul of overhanging branches and rogue boughs.

With wing mirrors on buses costing up to €2,000 to replace, local councillors have been asking what measures can be taken to ensure landowners cut back their hedges between now and the end of February.

Under Irish law, hedges should be cut back between September and March, however, according to Councillor Jim Codd, some landowners have yet to trim back potentially dangerous ditches.

“For farmers trying to move bales of hay and straw it’s very difficult to manoeuvre through the overgrown hedgerows,” he said at the September meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC). “Two lorries lost mirrors between Rathangan and Scar this week, we must make it possible for them to get the hay out.”

Responding to Cllr Codd’s query, chief executive Eddie Taaffe said the “primary responsibility” for maintaining hedges rests with the landowner, but that WCC does issue notices to those who do not cut back overgrown ditches.

“What is the time-lapse between writing to a landowner telling them to cut the ditches and us cutting the ditch on their behalf and sending them the bill?” asked Cllr Codd.

“They have 28 days to reply,” answered Mr Taaffe. “The roads team could spend the whole year cutting up ditches and sending bills, but that wouldn’t be a very efficient use of our finances.”

Cllr Codd continued to ask questions at the meeting of the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD) a few days later.

“Do we have any responsibility to people whose cars get damaged on our roads?” he asked. “If you can prove there’s a bough across the road that’s breaking off mirrors will WCC take up the case?”

“The owners of the vehicles have the option of going after the landowner,” replied district engineer Michael Brazzill. “That’s where I’d be going if it was my vehicle.”

Although Mr Brazzill confirmed that the council had been sending letters to landowners about hedge cutting since September 1, Cllr Ger Carthy said the current protocol was “reactive rather than proactive”.

“In advance of next year can we identify the landowners across the RMD who aren’t cutting their ditches?” he asked, suggesting that a database of offenders be created. “There are ditches in our district that haven’t been cut in 20 years. That’s why our budget is being depleted, because landowners aren’t taking responsibility for their ditches.”

But with over 600km of roads in the RMD, Mr Brazzill said it was unrealistic to expect the council to pinpoint every area with overgrown hedges.

“We have 600km of road, but that’s both sides, so we’re talking 1200km, it’s not viable to get all that information. There could be 50m of land with overgrown ditches and we’d have to identify that.”

Having the final say, director of services Lynda Lacey advised against sending letters to all landowners in the district, fearing it “would annoy those who were keeping their hedges cut”.

“We will carry out a review but sending letters is not the way to go,” she said.