Leitrim increases grant for Hedge Cutting Scheme enhancing road safety

Leitrim County Council will increase the Hedge Cutting Grant Scheme by an additional €50 per kilometre, on top of the existing €75 per kilometre for instances where a saw is required to cut overgrown roadside hedgerows. 

Ballinamore area Cllr Paddy O’Rourke has welcomed the decision by Leitrim County Council.

Cllr O’Rourke has campaigned long and hard to have this increase introduced. 

“Simply flailing the roadside hedge rows to about shoulder high whilst ignoring the canopy of overgrown trees and bushes is not effective,” Cllr O’Rourke said.

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Cllr O’Rourke believes that properly managing roadside hedgerows could lead to substantial savings for the Council on road maintenance and greatly enhance road safety.

While acknowledging the overall grant is relatively small, Cllr O’Rourke highlights that Leitrim is one of only a few counties that actually have a grant scheme. 

The scheme was only ever envisaged as an incentive to encourage landowners to take responsibility for these hedge rows. 

Cllr O’Rourke frequently made the comparison between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland where no hedgerows are allowed to grow to the extent that they threaten road safety, or prevent roads from drying out following frost. 

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The closing date for applications to the Hedge Cutting Grant Scheme is Friday, January 31, 2025. The scheme is open to groups, communities and individual applicants.