Hedge cutting in Crawley

Front, back and boundary hedges on Crawley’s older estates, cut tidily and cleared away the same day.

Hedge cutting in Crawley often means dealing with a hedge that’s older than you are. Most of the town went up in the 1950s and 60s, and plenty of the boundaries planted then have had decades to thicken out. On the clay in the west, privet and laurel put on a lot every year. We bring them back to a sensible size and keep them there.

Hedge trimming in Crawley is the same job at the lighter end: a tidy-up for a hedge that’s already in shape. Either way, we check for nests first, cut to a clean line, and bag up and remove every trimming so you’re not left raking the lawn afterwards.

Hedge cutting rules in the UK, and how we time it

The rule that matters is the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to damage or destroy an active bird’s nest. Nesting runs roughly March to August. So our main hedge cuts and reductions are planned for September to February, and we check every hedge for nests before we start. A light summer trim can be fine once we’ve looked. A hedge with a nest in it waits. With Tilgate Park, Goffs Park and Worth Park all inside the town, there’s no shortage of birds, so it’s a check we never skip.

Hedge cutting in Crawley along footpaths, and tired conifers

Some Crawley estates, Forestfield and Shrublands among them, were laid out to keep people on foot away from cars, so a hedge often lines a footpath as well as a road. Everyone who walks past judges it. Leylandii is the one people ring about most. It won’t regrow from bare brown wood, so we trim conifers only within the green. If one has been left so long there’s no green to cut back to, we’ll say honestly that replacing it may be the better bet.

Laurel we cut by hand with secateurs, so the leaves don’t brown at the edges.

Hedge Trimming in Crawley: your questions

Anything else, just ring. You’ll speak to the people who do the work.

What does hedge trimming cost in Crawley?

It depends on the length, height and type of hedge, how overgrown it is and whether we need steps or staging to reach the top. A tall conifer reduction takes far longer than a privet tidy. We’ll come and look and give you a fixed price with waste removal included.

My hedge runs along a public footpath. Is that a problem?

No, but it does need keeping off the path, so we cut the path side as well as yours. If you’re in one of Crawley’s conservation areas, such as Ifield Village or Worth, and you’re thinking of taking a hedge out altogether, have a word with the council’s planning team first.

How often should a hedge in Crawley be cut?

Privet on clay grows fast and usually wants two or three cuts a year. Beech and hornbeam need one. Leylandii needs at least one good cut every year, or it gets away from you very quickly.