A bid by a Kilgetty farmer to be allowed to remove hedgerows on his land has failed on appeal to the National Assembly.
An application by Mr. W. J. Lawrence to remove the hedges on land to the rear of Brambley Lays Farm, Clayford Road, was turned down by Pembrokeshire County Council.
He argued that the hedgerows, which contain six woody species and seven woodland species, needed to be removed as they had encroached on the field over the years and made them too small for "efficient farming operations" using a self-propelled forage harvester and tractor-drawn trailer for harvesting silage.
He also argued that clearing the hedgerows back would create gaps through which livestock could pass.
Upholding the county council's decision, National Assembly inspector, Alwyn B. Nixon, noted that the hedgerows formed an "integral part of a field system pre-dating the Enclosure Acts."
Mr. Nixon pointed out that all the hedgerows subject to the removal application were shown on the Begelly and East Williamston tithe map for 1841 and when he viewed the site himself he agreed that the hedgerows were of "considerable antiquity."
He added that advice in the Guide to The Hedgerows Regulations was that the presumption should be in favour of protecting and retaining important hedgerows and they should only be removed in "exceptional" circumstances.
He pointed out that when he visited the site, the hedge outgrowth and undergrowth had been cleared back to original lines and while there were some gaps, he felt that these could be closed by new planting.
While he appreciated that small field sizes may make modern agricultural methods more difficult, small enclosures were "characteristic of the area and aid good stock husbandry."
He did not consider the field sizes to be too small to prevent them from being used for harvesting silage and did not feel the arguments put forward by Mr. Lawrence outweighed the "presumption in favour of retaining these important hedgerows."