'Extreme' restrictions on hedge-cutting are 'impacting' road safety

Councillors in Mayo have warned that overgrown hedges and verges are creating dangerous driving conditions on rural roads, with restricted visibility forcing drivers into the middle of narrow roads to see around bends and junctions.

Their concerns come at the height of the summer season, when visitors and tourists unfamiliar with Mayo's rural road network are travelling on narrow local roads, and while hedge cutting is currently restricted under the Wildlife Act.

Councillors said urgent action is needed, commenting on the “crazy” speed at which hedges and verges are growing this year and, with more cars on the road, warned it could end in an accident.

At July’s meeting of the Ballina Municipal District, Cllr John O’Hara said more needs to be done to keep road-users safe.

“It's a huge problem, the grass is growing up on the road. It seems to need no fertiliser. It’s gone very dangerous,” he said.

Cllr Joe Faughnan agreed, saying the hedges had "gone crazy this year".

“It’s a real safety issue, national schools are back in six weeks, and I think there is an onus on us to get some side roads done as quickly as possible,” he said.

Cllr Annie May Reape said visibility on many rural roads had become increasingly dangerous and said that drivers wanting to turn "can't see left or right".

She expressed her concern that someone would be hurt, adding that drivers "have to actually merge into the centre of a carriageway to see left or right" on some roads.

“The grass has grown amazingly, it's taken off like weeds,” she said. “I know we are doing our best, but we need more help. I think we have to hire someone.

“Now is the time to do it, for visitors and for shows and festivals around. No one is going slow, they’re all speeding, it's dangerous on the roads at the moment. Can we get action?” she asked.

Cllr Michael Loftus said current works were "not being done very well" and questioned why the N59 had not yet been cleared.

Responding to the concerns, Senior Engineer Orla Bourke said it was "landowners' responsibility to make sure that hedges don't grow out onto the public road".

She explained that the council carries out hedge cutting and verge trimming on strategic routes in the interest of road user safety, with that programme due to begin before schools reopen. However, she pointed out that Ireland is currently in the annual "no-cutting" season.

Under Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976, the cutting, trimming, burning or destruction of vegetation and hedges is generally prohibited between March 1 and August 31.

While exemptions to the restrictions exist for road safety reasons, Ms Bourke said landowners have a responsibility to ensure hedges are cut before the annual no-cutting period comes into effect.

“The landowner should have done that in time. That awareness needs to be brought home strongly.” 

She also told councillors that Ballina district had joined the other districts in a countywide tender for verge trimming on national roads. In previous years, Ballina had been first on the programme, but this year it is last, which is why the N59 has not been done yet.

These concerns were echoed at this month's Roads Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) meeting, where executive engineer Peter McLoughlin said the county has a €400,000 budget for verge trimming.

The funding is divided among municipal districts based on how many kilometres of Mayo's 6,600km road network lie within the area.

“We are in the middle of peak growing season, at the moment it can take only a matter of days for a junction to overgrow and become a hazard,” Mr McLoughlin said.

He urged councillors and the public to report dangerous locations to their local municipal district offices.

“Safety is the number one priority,” he said. “The municipal districts know the difficult junctions that need action every year, but there will be others that arise with the passage of time.” 

He said it was important to keep on top of new roads becoming overgrown with hedges and grass, but also to keep in mind the Wildlife Act and balance the restrictions with public safety.

At the SPC meeting, Cllr Damien Ryan said he believed the current hedge-cutting restrictions were "extreme in nature" and argued that there needed to be "a balance to be struck between people's safety, visibility and the Wildlife Act".

“I remain to be convinced that on the edge of busy roads, wildlife is present. By nature, they would move deeper into hedges,” he said.

He noted that hay meadows can be cut from July 1 and said it was extreme that hedge cutting and verge trimming are restricted until September, adding that August 1 would be a more suitable date.

Cllr Michael Burke agreed, describing it as "crazy to wait until September" and said August would be a "reasonable" timeframe for Ireland.

“In the interest of safety, we need to pull back the date urgently. There are accidents waiting to happen, it's okay for people who know those roads, but if you are a visitor or a tourist, you don't expect the road to be so narrow and so blind,” he said.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.