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Council defends decision to remove hedgerow

Wednesday, 11 March 2009

DÚN Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has defended its decision to remove a mature hedgerow that acted as a natural security barrier at the rear of a number of residential homes in Dundrum. Until recently the hedgerow and ditch, which included mature trees and wildlife such as foxes, hedgehogs, rabbits and numerous species of birds, ran along the back of some 28 houses at Beech Drive in Dundrum. But on the morning of Tuesday, February 24, contractors acting on behalf of the council started to cut down the hedgerow. The workers were confronted by a number of residents who pleaded with them not to proceed with the job. Beech Drive resident Brian Gillen said he and his neighbours opposed the move to cut down the hedgerow for a number of reasons, including the fact that it attracted wildlife to the area and also provided a natural security barrier at the back of residents’ properties. He also claimed that residents were not consulted on the matter before the work took place. “This hedge is ancient and it has been there for longer than the houses, which were built in 1967,” Mr Gillen said. “Those of us who live here were very proud of the remaining countryside that was here. “There were foxes in the hedge and there were hedgehogs. There were also birds nesting in it and it brought nature to the suburbs. They just came along and ripped this hedge out.” He added that the hedge had provided residents with security as it prevented intruders from entering their properties from the field behind the houses. Brian Corcoran, secretary of the Meadowbrook Residents’ Association, said residents had not been consulted about the work. “The people doing the work understood that the residents’ association had requested that the work be done, but we did not,” he told Southside People. “There may have been a request to tidy the area around the hedge but we did not ask them to remove it. They came in and it was like a scorched earth policy.  “There was no major litter problem here. It looked a little bit untidy but if they had the same volume of men collecting plastic bags rather than removing the hedgerow they could have tidied it up in a day. “There was no consultation on this at all and there was very little thought put in to what was left behind. “The average age of the people across the road from me in Beech Drive is between 65 and 80 and they are terrified at this point. Thugs could step up over into their back gardens now and they are wide open.” A council spokesperson said it had received numerous complaints over the last two years about the amount of rubbish dumped in the hedgerows on Beech Drive and that it had to cut down the vegetation to remove it. “In situations where the council has ongoing problems with dumping, the first course of action is to remove the vegetative cover,” he said. In addition, the spokesman claimed that a foreman from the council’s parks department had informed the Meadowbrook Residents’ Association of the proposed work and he also believed that they had agreed to the work. He added that the workmen had removed the trees in the hedgerow after an independent report commissioned showed many of them to be in poor condition and recommended that they be removed. “In light of this, the parks department will be removing all these trees and replanting a row of trees in their place next autumn,” the spokesperson said.