Wexford council staff being ‘verbally abused’ for hedge cutting out of season

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Wexford County Council (WCC) staff are being verbally abused by members of the public for cutting overgrown hedges for road safety purposes. Although hedge cutting is prohibited from March 1 to August 31 under the Wildlife Act, local authorities can cut in areas where growth is considered a risk for road users.

Raising the issue at the June meeting of the Enniscorthy Municipal District (EMD), Councillor Pat Kehoe said certain parts of the district posed a real risk to motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists.

“There’s roads near me where you can walk it but you’d nearly have to stand in from the ditch,” he said. “For people who walk and cycle in these areas it’s very dangerous, can we instruct landowners to cut these hedges? I’m all for wildlife, but the wildlife has 99 per cent of the country to live in; there's hedges and ditches where people are in danger because of them.”

Roads engineer Neil Dempsey said his crews were actively tackling areas which were causing hazards for motorists but were facing resistance from the general public.

“There’s a body of work with householders in relation to hedges on their properties growing out onto footpaths,” he said. “Our own crews are actually getting a lot of abuse and being reported for cutting in relation to safety. We’re in the process of drafting a letter to cover the crews because they’re getting that much verbal abuse on the road for hedge cutting.”