Nothing you can really do with it. Not your tree. You can have it cut back to the boundary of your property but then you’ll have to look at a poorly pruned tree. Ask the council if they can thin it. Maybe a crown reduction but they’ll be reluctant because it brings it into management and gives them ongoing work. You can’t really cut much more than about 10-15% out of a beech tree so I’d be looking for a decent tree surgeon to thin and reduce at the same time. Looks like a nice job.
Tree overhanging house advice please?
- Thread starter FrenchieBoy
- Start date
landkeeper
Well-Known Member
Auger bit and sup of roundup job done 
FrenchieBoy
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately that's the sort of answer I am expecting from them. Typical council.
Rasputin
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately that's the sort of answer I am expecting from them. Typical council.
You never know though tbh if it comes crashing down it will block a road as well as taking my house out so least they can carbon offset some of the village traffic
FrenchieBoy
Well-Known Member
And of course if it came crashing down it could demolish the property and they would be obliged to rehome us - The trouble is that if they had to rehome us we could be taking up the home of an immigrant family Boris wants to allow in, and that would be a heck of a shame wouldn't it!You never know though tbh if it comes crashing down it will block a road as well as taking my house out so least they can carbon offset some of the village traffic
Rasputin
Well-Known Member
And of course if it came crashing down it could demolish the property and they would be obliged to rehome us - The trouble is that if they had to rehome us we could be taking up the home of an immigrant family Boris wants to allow in, and that would be a heck of a shame wouldn't it!
Sad but true
countrryboy
Well-Known Member
But thats not really the council not doing anything thou, if a tree is TPO'd or in conservation areas even if u owned the tree in 1 of those areas u couldnt cut it down or trim it back or even cut 1 branch off without applying for permission.
The tree for a beech looks healthy enough, unless u have lived there a very very long time that tree would be there before u moved there so it can hardly be a surprise it might shade a bit of light out so its bit unfair to be killing trees when it was there first
Loler UK
Well-Known Member
Speak to the council about your concerns. If you are not happy with their response hire an arboricultural consultant.
You have no right to light concerning neighbouring trees unless they are an evergreen hedge.
The tree owner owes a duty of care to inspect the tree from ground level to highlight any defects visible from ground level having ascertained a 'better than average understanding of trees'
You are entitled to prune back overhanging limbs at your own expense providing it does not significantly damage the overall health or structural stability of the tree and you must OFFER the arisings back to the tree owner you CANNOT dump them on the owners land. If the tree has a tpo or is in a cage an application/ notification must be made to the council first
My last client that had arisings thrown back over their boundary was awarded £5800 in costs and £3000 in damages, the neighbour now has a charge registered on their house for £4000 after the balifs recovered £6800 of goods sold at public auction.
Apparently the neighbour was told on an online forum that he could throw the arisings back over the boundary.
You have no right to light concerning neighbouring trees unless they are an evergreen hedge.
The tree owner owes a duty of care to inspect the tree from ground level to highlight any defects visible from ground level having ascertained a 'better than average understanding of trees'
You are entitled to prune back overhanging limbs at your own expense providing it does not significantly damage the overall health or structural stability of the tree and you must OFFER the arisings back to the tree owner you CANNOT dump them on the owners land. If the tree has a tpo or is in a cage an application/ notification must be made to the council first
My last client that had arisings thrown back over their boundary was awarded £5800 in costs and £3000 in damages, the neighbour now has a charge registered on their house for £4000 after the balifs recovered £6800 of goods sold at public auction.
Apparently the neighbour was told on an online forum that he could throw the arisings back over the boundary.
Swedish
Well-Known Member
Crikey that must have been some tree!
countrryboy
Well-Known Member
Wot did they do throw the arisings throu his greenhouse or on top of the blokes porsche??
Thats mental, big money for a quite small mistake unless more to the story.
Thats mental, big money for a quite small mistake unless more to the story.
It probably cause the uttermost distress and anxiety to the poor souls, sleepless nights and tablets from the Dr.
How they got over such trauma is beyond me
Franchi Matt
Well-Known Member
Standard reply from any council these days regarding any matter that involves them opeing their wallet....
FrenchieBoy
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the replies with the suggestions and advice, I appreciate it!
While i can understand a few saying things like using copper nails or an auger and roundup as a solution I do not feel that taking this sort of action is appropriate as I don't like the thought of taking matters into my own hands and that it might be seen as a little irresponsible of me to do so with the tree being in such close proximity to outs and our neighbours properties.
I have sent an e-mail to the council's environmental management dept outlining the problems and concerns and they have replied with the sort of answer I expected which reads as follows:
Thank you for your email
I have reported this issue to the Trees Maintenance Team. They will inspect the tree(s) as soon as possible but there is a back log at the moment so we are unable to advise when this will be carried out. Please be aware that unless the tree is deemed as dead, diseased or dangerous there is a possibility the Service may not be able to undertake any work.
However if the Service does agree to carry out the work but it’s not classed as dead, diseased or dangerous then the timeframe can be anything up to 2 yrs.
If you would like to view the Councils Policy on Tree Pruning & Felling, please see the below link
http://democracy.rochdale.gov.uk/documents/s20927/Trees%20report%20-%20INTERIM%20POLICY%20STATEMENT.pdf
Ref TREE-005587
Kind Regards
While i can understand a few saying things like using copper nails or an auger and roundup as a solution I do not feel that taking this sort of action is appropriate as I don't like the thought of taking matters into my own hands and that it might be seen as a little irresponsible of me to do so with the tree being in such close proximity to outs and our neighbours properties.
I have sent an e-mail to the council's environmental management dept outlining the problems and concerns and they have replied with the sort of answer I expected which reads as follows:
Thank you for your email
I have reported this issue to the Trees Maintenance Team. They will inspect the tree(s) as soon as possible but there is a back log at the moment so we are unable to advise when this will be carried out. Please be aware that unless the tree is deemed as dead, diseased or dangerous there is a possibility the Service may not be able to undertake any work.
However if the Service does agree to carry out the work but it’s not classed as dead, diseased or dangerous then the timeframe can be anything up to 2 yrs.
If you would like to view the Councils Policy on Tree Pruning & Felling, please see the below link
http://democracy.rochdale.gov.uk/documents/s20927/Trees%20report%20-%20INTERIM%20POLICY%20STATEMENT.pdf
Ref TREE-005587
Kind Regards
Loler UK
Well-Known Member
Not really, the other side of the boundary was a steep slope (nearly vertical) the clear up operation cost £££££££ as it required rope access, serious winch kit and some trees to be felled to facilitate extraction. To make it worse the bloke wouldn't allow the arisings to be extracted back to his garden which would have halved the cost. He was hilarious in front of the judge, total twit, adamant he new better than the judge even telling him that he was a former copper and he knew the law. My client had considerable staying power, the finances and the soliciter to see it through thankfully.
countrryboy
Well-Known Member
Cheers loler. Bloody nieghbours!!! Can be a funny bunch at times
Frenchie that seems a fairly reasonable response from the council, althou may not be wot u wanted to hear, most will be well skint so wont really be able to afford to do work if not absolutely vital esp with trees as a bit of a luxory anyway.
I dont know if the tree officer will be part of the maintenance team possibly worth a call or putting pressure on ur housing assoc?
I don't know if its worth all the residents chipping together to get a survey done, ( probably need a proper survey since not ur tree)
and get a quote for the work. If ur splitting the costs 4/6/8 ways brings it down a fair bit
Would the council would let u get ur own reputable tree company in to do the work if u were paying them?
Might be an option if u really want something done in a shorter timescale, as i don't imagine the council would mind if it wasn't costing them.
Allow u might need the permission in writing to keep the tree surgeon happy.
Frenchie that seems a fairly reasonable response from the council, althou may not be wot u wanted to hear, most will be well skint so wont really be able to afford to do work if not absolutely vital esp with trees as a bit of a luxory anyway.
I dont know if the tree officer will be part of the maintenance team possibly worth a call or putting pressure on ur housing assoc?
I don't know if its worth all the residents chipping together to get a survey done, ( probably need a proper survey since not ur tree)
and get a quote for the work. If ur splitting the costs 4/6/8 ways brings it down a fair bit
Would the council would let u get ur own reputable tree company in to do the work if u were paying them?
Might be an option if u really want something done in a shorter timescale, as i don't imagine the council would mind if it wasn't costing them.
Allow u might need the permission in writing to keep the tree surgeon happy.
That tree was there well before you was on this earth, and should be here a long time after you have departed it. It will have been there when you moved in, no doubt it was there before the property was built. And you want it cutting down now? Did you not notice that great big thing before you decided to move in?
FrenchieBoy
Well-Known Member
Just to be clear - Nowhere have I said that I want the tree cutting down, have copper nails driven into it, or an auger and "chemicals" put in it to damage the tree so if you would like to read my original post again you will see that your comment about me wanting the tree cutting down is unjustified so let's not go any further down that road please!
As it is the Rochdale Borough Council Tree Officer has been round this morning (Which surprised me so I take back what I said about their e-mail being the response that I expected). He had a long chat with me and then looked at the tree and the "general situation". He said that in his opinion my concerns were fully justified and that it needed to be "trimmed back" and topped. He also pointed out several places on the tree where it had been trimmed back before, in his opinion about 8 to 10 years ago (Before I moved in to the property) and that the tree is likely to be about 100 years old so he was surprised that the property was built so close to the tree and that it was unlikely that the tree has a TPO on it!
However the problem comes in that he believes that the tree is actually on Rochdale Borough Housing's land and that he was from Rochdale Borough Council (a totally different "company", something that I was not aware of) so what he has agreed to do is check if it does come under the Borough Council or the Borough Housing and if it is under the Housing Council he is going to send me their contact details along with the name of the person I need to speak to so that I can contact them and tell them that the Rochdale Borough Council Tree Inspector (I have his name and contact details) has been and inspected the tree and that my concerns are justified and the tree does need to be trimmed back.
countrryboy
Well-Known Member
Glad u've had a pretty positive result and pretty quickly too.
Bear in mind im not a 'proper' tree surgeon ( althou spent years on the railways butchering 1 side of trees) but i thought words like 'topping' were not really best practice anymore.
A lot of councils still pollard roadside trees, which is essentially topping them, but once u start u have to continue, but generally considered bad practice to start now and not on a beech, most tree surgeons talk more about crown uplifts and crown reductions now, if done well should not create future work the way pollarding'topping does.
The other thing i just had a better look at ur photo and seems to be a big V fork about 10ft up (assuming thats a 6ft fence in background) with a big limb coming out of it, from the photo looks like a bark included union and would be a very likely place for rot to start and build up, from the photo which can be misleading doesnt look a great join and quite long, it does look like atleast its leaning away from ur property thou.
Did the tree oficer metion it or stick a ladder up to inspect?
Might be worth sticking a ladder and having a look/wee poke about with a stick see if any holes, assuming its safe to do so,
I may be wrong as not easy to tell from a photo but might be worth mentioning it for a special look as a likely bit to fail if the tree was to fail
Bear in mind im not a 'proper' tree surgeon ( althou spent years on the railways butchering 1 side of trees) but i thought words like 'topping' were not really best practice anymore.
A lot of councils still pollard roadside trees, which is essentially topping them, but once u start u have to continue, but generally considered bad practice to start now and not on a beech, most tree surgeons talk more about crown uplifts and crown reductions now, if done well should not create future work the way pollarding'topping does.
The other thing i just had a better look at ur photo and seems to be a big V fork about 10ft up (assuming thats a 6ft fence in background) with a big limb coming out of it, from the photo looks like a bark included union and would be a very likely place for rot to start and build up, from the photo which can be misleading doesnt look a great join and quite long, it does look like atleast its leaning away from ur property thou.
Did the tree oficer metion it or stick a ladder up to inspect?
Might be worth sticking a ladder and having a look/wee poke about with a stick see if any holes, assuming its safe to do so,
I may be wrong as not easy to tell from a photo but might be worth mentioning it for a special look as a likely bit to fail if the tree was to fail
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