George Eustice MP visits our Hedgerow Heroes
3rd March 2022
Image – Nicola Schafer
We were delighted to have George Eustice, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, pay a visit to one of our Hedgerow Hero project sites this morning.
CPRE and Wild Oxfordshire have been working with the community groups and parish councils of Kidlington, Watlington and Eynsham to plant new hedgerows and rejuvenate ancient ones.
Mr Eustice visited the Watlington site this morning, a great example of a community project restoring and replacing a neglected hedgerow. Hedgerows can play an important role in Nature Recovery – this revitalised hedgerow will provide important habitat to wildlife such as small mammals, farmland birds, perennial wildflowers and many invertebrates.
The CPRE hedgerows campaign is calling for a 40% increase in hedgerows by 2050 #40by50
We are delighted that Mr Eustice spoke about the inclusion of hedgerows in the Governments Sustainable Farming Incentive, being rolled out from 2023.
With less than half of the UK’s hedges in good condition small steps can make a big difference. We hope we’ve created a template to inspire other communities to take action for hedgerows on their patch.