For Stratford-upon-Avon homeowners, professional hedge maintenance can help keep established gardens looking balanced while controlling excessive height and width.
SPR Trees & Landscapes provides professional hedge maintenance in Stratford-upon-Avon for homeowners, landlords and businesses needing help with routine cutting, shaping or heavily overgrown hedges.
For Stratford-upon-Avon homeowners, professional hedge maintenance can help keep established gardens looking balanced while controlling excessive height and width.
With over 15 years' experience, SPR can help with everything from regular hedge trimming through to substantial reductions on large conifer and Leylandii hedges. Every hedge is quoted after seeing it, because length, height, width, species and access all change the job.
The width is the part people forget to ask about. A hedge cut only on top gets thicker and thicker until the base is out in the lawn and the top is out over the path. Taking the faces back at the same time as the top is what keeps it a hedge rather than a wall of growth.
Shaping is where width is controlled. Taking the faces back to a proper line, with a slight taper towards the top, stops the slow outward creep that turns a two-foot hedge into a four-foot one over a decade.
Width reduction is the harder half and the half people underestimate. Taking a foot off the face of a mature hedge often means cutting into bare wood, and whether that is a temporary look or a permanent one depends entirely on the species.
Width is where conifer hedges are most often ruined. The green on the faces is usually shallower than the green on top, so a width reduction that seems modest can go straight through into brown. It is worth checking before, not after.
Width is the Leylandii trap. Height is obvious and gets dealt with; the faces creep outwards a few inches a year and by the time anyone notices, taking them back to the original line means cutting into brown wood that will not recover.
The rule most people have half-heard is the "two metre" one, and it is worth stating properly because it is almost always repeated wrong. There is no legal maximum height for a hedge. You are not obliged to keep a hedge at two metres and nobody can make you cut one simply because it is taller than that. What the two-metre figure actually marks is the threshold at which a neighbour can complain to Stratford-on-Avon District Council under Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003.
For a complaint to qualify, the hedge has to be a line of two or more evergreens over two metres tall that acts as a barrier to light or access. That means conifers, laurel and privet are in scope; beech and hornbeam, being deciduous, are not, and neither is a single tree however large. The neighbour has to have tried to sort it out directly first, and Stratford-on-Avon District Council charges a fee to take the complaint on — fees vary widely between councils and change each April, so it is worth checking the current figure rather than relying on what someone was charged elsewhere.
If Stratford-on-Avon District Council does issue a remedial notice, there are firm limits on what it can require. It cannot order the hedge to be reduced below two metres, and it cannot order it removed. It can require a reduction to some height at or above two metres and require that height to be maintained, and the notice is registered as a local land charge, so it stays with the property when it is sold.
Summer hedge work is possible and lawful, with one condition. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to take, damage or destroy a nest in use or being built — not to cut a hedge in June. Any hedge cut in season gets checked first, and where a nest is found that stretch is left until the birds have finished with it. The RSPB puts the main season at March to September and suggests cutting between September and the end of February where you have a free choice, which is good practice rather than a legal requirement.
The "1 March to 31 August" ban that gets quoted at householders is an agricultural rule that does not apply to gardens. It comes from the Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024, which cover hedgerows on farmland and carry an express exclusion for anything within the curtilage of a dwelling house.
One genuine catch: a hedge itself cannot carry a Tree Preservation Order, but a tree growing up within one can, and an old hedge that has become a line of trees can be covered too. A protected tree needs written consent from Stratford-on-Avon District Council at any size — there is no small-tree exemption for a TPO. If the property is in a conservation area, a tree in the hedge needs six weeks' notice unless its stem is under 75mm across, measured 1.5m up. The hedge around it stays unrestricted either way. Where a boundary is a mix of hedge and self-sown trees, that is worth checking before work starts.
Hedge maintenance and landscaping are usually quoted together where both are wanted. It works out cheaper than arranging them separately, because the access, the set-up and the waste removal happen once.
Trees and hedges tend to need attention at the same time, and there is a real saving in dealing with them together: one visit, one set-up, one waste run. SPR provides tree pruning, reductions, removals and stump grinding alongside the hedge work.
Five guides written for Stratford-upon-Avon homeowners, covering what hedge work costs, what drives the price and how to decide what you actually need.
Hedge cutting and reduction carried out by SPR across Worcestershire and the surrounding counties.
“Trimmed large conifer hedge and bushes - A really excellent job done would recommend”
“We employed these guys to trim the conifers at the end of our garden. The work they carried out was first...”
“Cut and trimmed our Leylandii hedge two weeks ago. Took away the cuttings. Excellent job, as usual....”
The cost depends on the hedge's length, height, width, condition, access and the amount of work required. Contact SPR for a free quotation.
Yes. Professional hedge cutting, trimming and shaping are core SPR services.
Yes. We can assess large overgrown hedges and discuss appropriate height reduction.
Yes. Leylandii hedge cutting and reduction form part of our hedge-maintenance service.
Depending on the hedge and its condition, we can assess excessive width and discuss the appropriate work.
Yes. We provide professional cutting and reduction for large conifer hedges.
Yes. SPR also provides tree pruning, reductions, removals and stump grinding.
Yes. Call or WhatsApp 07542 451291.
No. There is no legal maximum height for a garden hedge, and you cannot be made to cut one just for being tall. Two metres is the point at which a neighbour can complain to Stratford-on-Avon District Council about an evergreen hedge that blocks their light or access — and even then the council cannot require it below two metres or order it removed.
Yes, provided there is no active nest in the section being cut. It is not an offence to cut a hedge in summer; the offence is damaging a nest that is in use or being built. We check before starting and leave any part with an active nest until the birds have finished. The 1 March to 31 August ban you may have read about applies to farm hedgerows, not garden ones.
SPR covers Worcester and the surrounding towns for hedge maintenance, tree surgery and wider landscaping.
SPR Trees & Landscapes, 6 Rose Avenue, Worcester, WR4 9PY
Need a hedge cut, shaped or reduced in Stratford-upon-Avon? Tell us what you need and we'll get back to you — usually the same day.
Prefer to talk? Call 07542 451291 or WhatsApp us.
