Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

Removing obstructing trees.


Naaaysmith

Recommended Posts

Has anyone got experience of requesting the council to fell trees within immediate proximity of your property?

There are couple of Poplar trees as tall as my house located on the other side of my garden fence. The trees are in a park and are not registered protected. At some point in the future, the canopies of both trees will meet and completely block out the west view of the sky from my garden.

I've already lopped off some branches that extended into my property. But I want at least one tree felled. How do I go about getting the council to remove a tree?

Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Contact the Parks and Gardens Department (or the equivalent in your LA).

They will be able to advise. Pollarding is an alternative to removal, but that won't solve your problem long term ( unless they carry out routine trimming). In my old workplace I got two trees removed from the site for security reasons so it is possible. Good news they're not protected.

I take it there are no other reasons you can cite to bolster your request (security, light blocking etc)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would expect the first thing is to locate an office to approach, not all places/offices will be relevant.

Then you need to determine their likely reaction and also have a reason for removal of them - sorry but owning a scope will not be adquate I suspect.

They will likely have to be causing you a nuisience and/or hazard.

Not sure how Poplars are looked upon in Manchester, at friends in Canada they are regarded as a nusience and you are forbidden to plant them, I think existing ones cannot just be chopped but if you have a reason to chop they smile kindly on the request and obtaining permission is therefore not difficult.

They get big and height could be a case: Are you geting concerned that if one fell onto your property during a strom there is the damage to consider and you could suggest therefore the council would be responsible for cost. This helps if thay are East of you as the prevaling Westerly winds would more likely blow them onto you.

Another may be if they are South, they are simply blocking sunlight and so removal would be benefical. Does not sound as if they could be determined to be removing water from the ground and so causing subsidence.

You may find that like Canada they are considered a bit of a pain, so the council may be responsive. I think poplars fall into the catagory of they were a good idea at the time but now are or can be getting out of hand.

By far the easiest is to discover they are diseased and so there is a heightened probability of collapse and removal would be the solution, but they seem a robust species.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I looked into this a few years ago for my mother, but that wasn't against a council tree but a neighbour's - The .gov answer is here

You can request a council complaint form if the hedge [Tree} is all of these

  • 2 or more mostly evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs
  • over 2 metres tall
  • affecting your enjoyment of your home or garden because it’s too tall

The 3rd point is a bit subjective, but it's worth noting - In her case it was a Eucalyptus tree, which did have a preservation order, but blocked her gutters every year...  The neighbours lopped it :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they block your view to the low Western part of the sky, you might try the 

denial of astronomy education to youngsters who have an Interest in the solar system planets.

Venus is not a problem for you, but Mercury is probably a victim of the trees, and since Mercury is an elusive little beggar anyway,

the Western Horizon area offers the best chance for the youngsters to see the Nearest planet to the sun.

Granted the opportunities will be non too frequent, although  Mercury orbits the sun in 88 days, a quarter of the time it takes Earth.

Tell a couple of white lies regarding the education speil, you never know, it might swing it your way.

Don't whatever you do, don't remove a tree yourself, you will be in trouble then  :grin:.

Ron. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a load of large trees to the north of my garden which tower over my house, double the height or more. They are on national rail property, I complained to them about them being too tall, blocking guttering etc and they told me to get lost, they won't trim them unless the branches overhang my property, which at present they don't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes. I have the same situation and my council has just introduced a new policy whereby they won't do anything to trees - they won't even remove branches overhanging your property  (they will "allow" you do it!). So now I have two trees higher than the house within a few feet of my back door!

NigelM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Legislation governing the height of hedges and tree lines is supposed to give people whose gardens are overshadowed the opportunity to resolve the problem with the help of the local council. In 2005, Part 8 of the Anti-Social behaviour Act defined the term "high hedges" as two or more evergreen trees or shrubs more than 6.5 feet tall. Residents are urged to negotiate with the neighbours before asking their local council to implement the high hedge legislation. But local authorities often charge £400 or more to deter frivolous applications. They will consider both sides of the dispute before making a decision and have the power to order any offending hedges to be pruned if a complaint is upheld.

Naaaysmith, it looks like your council might have a conflict of interest regarding and decision making. I would certainly try to "negotiate" with them first as the legislation above requires, but of course it would be wrong for them to make a charge in your case as they are both the neighbour and the adjudicator. If they are unhelpful, I might approach environmental health (diminished sunlight) or your elected Mayor who may have some executive powers that he can bring to bear or as a last resort your local MP. As annoying as it might be I would certainly not be recommending that you commit any criminal activity on what is in reality council property. Apart from running the risk of being caught doing it, you will also face the difficulty of predicting which way a damaged tree might fall. :eek:   :grin:  :grin:  :grin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having worked for ten years as head of parks dept, in a local council, I think that your first problem is inertia.

I'd be inclined to put the matter in writing presenting the problem. A phone call is easily forgotten or at worse ignored.

Trees can be very contentious and can easily stir up local reaction. Getting local authorities to act on anything except statutory responsibilities can be a frustrating exercise.

Once you have your correspondence , you can then present your case to your local councillor. This may produce results depending often on grinding axes, hopefully to the boles of the appalling poplars,

Nick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But what if the trees are not evergreen?

Hi John - Expanding further on James' post, do have a look at the .gov site link

According to that page it extends further than evergreen to semi-evergreen - 2 or more mostly evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs

Going by the letter of that site, and assuming you've already got a copy of the formal response from National Rail, then it would seem as though the procedure is to now get one of the Council claim forms... However, it would seem as if you'll potentially have to then pay for their engagement to even consider it (as James mentioned), and as it doesn't mention anything about it being refundable, I doubt you'd be able to recover that from either Council or National Rail, even if it's upheld :(

Maybe you can try and argue that the height is "affecting your enjoyment of your home or garden because it’s too tall", but obviously that phrase is open to a fair amount of interpretation....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent advice. I do believe one of the Poplars to be a particular nuisance for at least three neighbours and does contribute significantly to the blocking of gutters. It does indeed reduce enjoyment of my garden and does attract kids. I reckon a good case can be put together to have it removed. I'll start by establishing a dialogue with Tameside council and obtain support from the neighbours.

Thanks

Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I removed one of my neighbours trees that was overhanging and also happened to be directly North of my observing place. [emoji56]

I did get permission first though and they were fine with it so long as I did the work and got rid of the waste.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.