Retention of other landscape features
13.—(1) Except where sub-paragraph (2) or (3) apply, a beneficiary must not remove, destroy or damage stone walls, stone faced banks, hedges, earth banks, slate fences, ponds or ditches without the prior consent of—
(a)the Welsh Ministers,
(b)another authority, by or under any enactment, as shall be notified to the beneficiary by the Welsh Ministers when the beneficiary applies to them for consent.
(2) A beneficiary may remove, or remove stone from, a stone feature—
(a)to widen an existing gap in the stone feature to no more than 10 metres in order to provide access to the land for machinery or livestock, but the ends of the feature created by the widening operation must be finished with a vertical face; or
(b)if the Welsh Ministers have given the beneficiary written permission to do so because they consider that the removal is necessary in the circumstance of the particular case.
(3) A beneficiary may widen an existing gap in a hedge, earth bank or ditch to no more than 10 metres in order to provide access to the land for machinery or livestock but the end of the hedge, earth bank or ditch created by the widening operation must be finished with a vertical face.
(4) A beneficiary must not cultivate land within 1 metre of a hedge, earth bank or watercourse adjacent to an agricultural area.
(5) A beneficiary must not remove a hedgerow in breach of regulation 5(1) or (9) of the Hedgerows Regulations 1997(1).
(6) A beneficiary must not, in breach of a tree preservation order made under section 198(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990(2)—
(a)cut down, uproot or wilfully destroy a tree; or
(b)wilfully damage, top or lop a tree in such a manner as to be likely to destroy it.
(7) In this paragraph—
“ditch” (“ffos”) includes a dry ditch;
“hedge” (“perth”) means any hedgerow with a maximum width of 10 metres or less;
“pond” (“pwll dŵr”) means a body of water occurring naturally, or created under a rural development commitment, up to 0.1 hectare surface area;
“rural development application” (“cais datblygu gwledig”) means an application to the Welsh Ministers to enter into a rural development commitment;
“rural development applicant” (“ceisydd datblygu gwledig”) means any person who makes a rural development application:
“rural development commitment” (“ymrwymiad datblygu gwledig”) means an undertaking by a rural development applicant to the Welsh Ministers to comply with any requirement which is a condition of receiving a rural development payment;
“rural development payment” (“taliad datblygu gwledig”) means any payment made by the Welsh Ministers under Title III of the Rural Development Regulation;
“stone feature” (“nodwedd gerrig”) includes a stone wall, a stone faced bank and a slate fence;
“stone wall” (“wal gerrig”) means a traditional stone wall and includes Penclawdd walls and Pembrokeshire hedges;
“Penclawdd wall” (“wal Penclawdd”) and “Pembrokeshire hedge” (“perth Sir Benfro”) means an earth bank with two constructed stone faces;
“stone faced bank” (“clawdd cerrig”) means an earth bank with one constructed stone face.
S.I. 1997/1160. There are amendments, none of which are relevant.