please help...does anyone know how far from a hedge a muckheap has to be situated??? my nieghboring farmer wants me to re-site my small muckheap, because he has now replanted a hedge. the muckheap has always been in the same spot, and is where the previous people had thier muckheap. there was only a scraggly hedge there when i moved there 13 years ago. but he is now saying that it has to be 15 or 20 metres away from his hedge, which effectively means it will be in the middle of my small paddock. i know it has to be 10 metres from a watercourse, but i can not find any information on hedge distance either with defra or with environment agency, although he is "warning " me (his words) that he is having a defra inspection, and they might be after me for not being within regulations, so , does anyone know the distance a small muckheap has to be sited from a hedge? i do not want to fall out with him, and will move farther away from his hedge, but only to the minimum i can get away with, as i have a long narrow strip of land which has a stream on one side, so i am somewhat limited as to where to put it. thanks very much.
muck heaps
- Thread starter lynnemh
- Start date
http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsi...re+storage+and+disposal+advice?opendocument#6
I don't think there is any fixed distance. It just can't be a nuasance.
I don't think there is any fixed distance. It just can't be a nuasance.
Just a question but was the hedge near any field drainage? That might be why it was needed to be moved. I know that Defra have brought something out about Nitrate leaching and there's 9 booklets explaining to farmers what they should do with their slurry pits etc, but I can't remember anything about hedges other than they can't be a nuisance, near field drainage, water courses etc or near footpaths. I'm not an expert though so could be completely wrong.
Give DEFRA a buzz you don't have to give any details and get the info straight from the horses mouth!!!
thank you for all of your replies. i have phoned defra yesterday before posting, also the environmental agency , and some other people- environmental consultants, and some hedge and tree agency (the guy was obnoxious and said he knew the answer, but he wouldnt tell me unless i became a member) no one knew, but defra said to phone them back today, and the woman would do some research with her collegues. phoned back today and the woman cant find anything specific to it, so says there is no ruling as to the distance. however, as one of you pointed out, on some of the local county sites there is a statement about a muckheap could be percieved as a nuisance. mine is very small; about 6 by 7 foot and about waist high, so this is, to my mind, very petty and annoying, but i will move it about 6 foot away from the hedge and see if that satisfies him. otherwise i will have to take down and re erect fencing and gateways. ( which i will have to do to some extent anyway, to move it just that amount) it is really stressing me, as there really isnt anywhere else to put it out of site, as the paddock owner wants it to be, or away from a stream; it would literally be in the middle of my paddock. ( long narrow strip) and today i am feeling useless, because i havent picked up droppings for 3 days- cant see the point of moving them twice. and it just seems to be an insurmountable hassle, and the last straw!! ( sorry, dont mean to whine- just letting of steam)
Poor you, don't let it stress you out. I know that you don't want to fall out with the farmer putting his hedge in but if it were me, I'd be tempted to tell said farmer to get DEFRA out for an inspection, they've already said they can't find any info on it so you can't be breaking their regs. I wouldn't move it either, or even ask him whether he want's any of it as free fertiliser for his fields.
nope, he was just told to move it away otherwise it would fetilize the hedges....which it has anyway and our muck heap is now a new hedge/bush/tree.
I would be careful of involving Environmental Agency as in some of their thinking muck heaps should all be in special concrete areas with drainage to slurry tanks....I kid you not a friend had to do this for her livery yard!!
General thinking is that muckheaps should not always be in the same place each year and must never be in a position to drain to a watercourse. i have never heard anything about hedges.
Life was so much simpler when we could burn them!!!
General thinking is that muckheaps should not always be in the same place each year and must never be in a position to drain to a watercourse. i have never heard anything about hedges.
Life was so much simpler when we could burn them!!!
There is mention on the defra page about not fertising hedgerows.
They also have different recommendations depending on whether it is a commercial yard or private yard and whether the heap is a permanant one or a temporary field one.
The rules for private yards are certainly more woolly and advisory than you poor people trying to make an honest living from horses and seem to have so many hoops to jump through.
They also have different recommendations depending on whether it is a commercial yard or private yard and whether the heap is a permanant one or a temporary field one.
The rules for private yards are certainly more woolly and advisory than you poor people trying to make an honest living from horses and seem to have so many hoops to jump through.
There is mention on the defra page about not fertising hedgerows.
They also have different recommendations depending on whether it is a commercial yard or private yard and whether the heap is a permanant one or a temporary field one.
The rules for private yards are certainly more woolly and advisory than you poor people trying to make an honest living from horses and seem to have so many hoops to jump through.
i have no idea.....its a working farm and enviromental health were doing the inspection.
hi, thank you all. it really is ridiculous that it is getting me down, it is just that things are difficult anyway at the minute, and this is just a little problem, but is going to be huge, because i can see me struggling to shift it myself with a shovel, apart from where to put it. have asked a farmer to take it away in the spring, when my nieghbor first mentioned it, and he said he would do it when the ground had dried up, but, because of the weather this year, when the ground had dried up, he was busy harvesting. i have also asked another man to do it , and he has said he will have a look and let me know, but he hasnt looked yet. the problem is that the field is quite difficult to get into, as very narrow access, but i am really trying to organize it. i do not want to fall out with my nieghbor, because he is a very good nieghbor, but is very keen on his trees and hedges and has a small managed wood. ( i have not complained about the fact that he has put an oak tree on the other side of the hedge which has now grown big enough to drop leaves and acorns (poisonous) in my paddock, or that his woodpiles have loads of rabbits living in them which are coming through the hedge and digging holes on my side, but it all involves extra work for me. but he feeds and checks my animals if i cant get there ie snow last year, and lets me ride and drive in his fields when they are not planted. so he is someone i dont want to fall out with, and generally like him and his wife. he is, as joyscarer mentioned, concerned about nitrogen levels which will be detrimental to his hedge, but there is according to the people i spoke to , no ruling on the distance it needs to be. the problem for me is what to actually do with the muck in the future, bagging and putting it at the roadside is not an option, ( the owners dont want me too, as access is on to a busy road) and it is just the shape of my paddock which is causing me the practical problem of where else to put it. ( plus the fact that my energy levels are low at the minute due to an auto- immune disease) environmental agency were very nice when i phoned, and didnt ask for my name or address, thier only concern ie muck heap is the correct distance from a watercourse or well. defra, too, were really helpful, but can find no ruling on the actual distance it needs to be from a hedge. the nieghbor wants it a long way from his hedge, but to be honest, i think he is trying it on a bit, in that he said in the spring, when he first mentioned it, that he was having a defra inspection, and that they would be after me about the muck heap, and then went on to say, the stuff that pertains to larger yards, so i told him that it didnt apply to small owners who had a small muckheap, and this weekend, he said that the previous inspection was not with defra, but that this one was, and he backtracked a bit about rules specific to larger yards, so the thing is, im not sure that he is being strictly truthful about the defra inspection; hence im trying to find any ruling as to distance that i can find, as i think, he is just trying to add clout to his request, and im hoping i can just pacify him by moving it the minumum that i can get away with. oh well , sorry to offload again. i just feel helpless in what i can do.
Do you have any allotments nearby? contact their society and offer them it, we have most of ours collected by them twice a year and offer local gardeners the rest , all free as long as they collect.
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