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Law no. 2025-268 of March 24, 2025 introduced a specific legal framework for the destruction of hedges, recognizing their essential role in maintaining biodiversity, soil quality, water regulation and landscape preservation. The aim is to provide a framework for hedge removal projects, while ensuring the sustainable management of these landscape features.
Any intervention on hedges must aim for sustainable management, defined as maintaining their agronomic, ecological and landscape multifunctionality in space and time.
What is a hedge?
A hedge is defined in the Environment Code as a linear unit of vegetation, other than crops, with a maximum width of 20m and comprising at least 2 of the following three elements:
- Shrubs,
- Trees,
- Woody: consisting of or resembling wood.
These provisions do not apply to avenues and lines of trees, whether or not they border roads open to public traffic, or to hedges bordering buildings or squares, which form part of a garden or park adjoining a dwelling, or which are located within this enclosure.
Supervision of hedgerow destruction projects
Any project to destroy a hedgerow is subject to a single prior declaration.
If the destruction of the hedgerow is subject to a declaration under one or more pieces of legislation, the single declaration takes the place of the declaration.
The authorities have a maximum of 4 months in which to object; without a response, the project is deemed to have been accepted. Work may not begin until this period has elapsed.
The competent administrative authority may inform the author of the declaration, within a maximum period of 4 months, that the implementation of his project is subject to obtaining a single authorization.
It thus informs him that his declaration is considered as an application for a single authorization, and asks him, where appropriate, to transmit the additional elements necessary for the examination of this application, while indicating the deadline within which the decision will be taken. Work may not begin until the single authorization has been issued. The authorization decision is subject to public participation when it has a direct and significant impact on the environment.
The rules of procedure and consultation applicable to the single authorization supersede the rules of procedure and consultation laid down in the Environment Code and other legislation.
Lastly, any destruction of a hedge is subject to compensation measures involving the replanting of a linear area at least equal to that destroyed.
When the destruction of the hedgerow is part of a project subject to environmental authorization, the latter takes the place of no objection to the single prior declaration or single authorization for the destruction of the hedgerow.
Penalties for non-compliance with single declaration or authorization requirements
The act of destroying a hedge, when such destruction requires the absence of opposition to the single declaration, without having obtained this absence of opposition or in violation of a measure withdrawing this absence of opposition is punishable by a fine of 2nd class (750€ for a legal entity).
The act of destroying a hedge, when such destruction requires a single authorization, without having obtained this single authorization or in violation of a measure withdrawing this single authorization, is punishable by a fine of 4th class contraventions (€3,750 for a legal entity).
Local provisions
In addition, in each département, based on available public data, in particular from the hedge observatory, and after consultation with representative agricultural organizations and associations of local elected representatives, as well as representatives of network infrastructure managers and an environmental protection association, the competent administrative authority issues an order establishing for the département:
- a period during which no work may be carried out on hedgerows, taking into account sensitive periods for species at local risk in terms of nesting periods, as well as the department's specific climatic and soil conditions;
- a compensation coefficient for the destruction of hedges;
- a list of customary local practices that are presumed to meet the notion of standard hedge maintenance work on a consistent basis throughout the département.