The Quarry · Guernsey land use

Hedges, banks and driveways

Every planning application in Guernsey since 2015 to create or widen a vehicle access, or to remove a hedge or earth bank, taken from the States planning register and mapped month by month.

Open the full page with the charts and method
20152018202120242026
Granted Refused Withdrawn or still pending One application can make several changes, so it can appear under more than one type.

Selected application

Tap a dot to see the application.

What happened when

    Applications each year, by type

    Where the changes are

    Applications granted since the Island Development Plan took effect (November 2016 onwards), by parish. An application can be counted under both new access and hedge or bank.

    How this map was made

    The applications

    Each description was read for four kinds of change: creating a new vehicle access (including field entrances), widening, moving or otherwise altering one, removing a hedge, and removing or lowering an earth bank. Hedges replaced with new hedging are not counted as removals; hedges replaced with fencing or walls are. Amendments to earlier approvals are left out so the same change isn't counted twice.

    The sorting is done on the wording of each description. A random check of 25 included applications found one that did not belong (a turning area inside a field reached by an existing access). Treat individual counts as close rather than exact.

    What the register doesn't show

    Descriptions rarely give lengths, so the map counts applications, not metres of hedge or bank. Some hedge and bank removals don't need planning permission at all, and work done without permission only appears if a retrospective application follows, so the true scale is larger. Roadside walls taken down are noted on each application but are not a category of their own.

    Dates and outcomes

    Each application appears in the month it was validated, not the month it was decided. The outcome is its status on the register now, so recent months include applications still pending.

    Locations

    Sources

    1. Download the data (CSV)
    2. States of Guernsey planning register, Planning Applications Websearch
    3. States of Guernsey Digimap: planning site boundaries and land parcels
    4. Pillars in lane anger parish, Guernsey Press, 2 Dec 2016
    5. St Martin's douzaine wants earth bank to be protected, Guernsey Press, 23 May 2017
    6. Rush is on to change farmland into gardens, Guernsey Press, 25 Sep 2021
    7. Collas Crill explains the Island Development Plan review, Collas Crill