The person named lodged an appeal with my Department's REPS appeals committee against a penalty of 100% imposed on him for removal of a hedgerow.
The matter has been examined in detail by the REPS appeals committee, which decided that the penalty was correctly applied and must remain in place. In arriving at this decision, the appeals committee noted that the planning permission cited in the appeal required the removal of 15m of hedgerow on either side of an entrance. My Department's inspectors found, however, that 150m of hedgerow had been removed. Since this went far beyond what was required by the planning conditions, the penalty was upheld. The person named has been informed of the appeals committee's final decision.