can they stop me?

[jose]

Got a customer that has a oak overhanging badly over his garden. Its a split stem at the base and one half is virtually all over his garden.

Its a council owned tree but no TPO or conservation area. 

Customer wants it down ( and will pay) but the council said no way.

They did say however he can cut back in accordance with common law.

Fine he says i will will have it cut back to the boundary line.

They now come back saying this is too much and he has to reconsider a less drastic reduction or else they wont allow access to the tree.

The tree spans the whole width of his garden and anything less doesnt do him any good. See the picture below. 

Access is via a open grass area and adjacent foot path. No barriers etc and its not a council fenced off area in anyway. 

I personally dont have anything to gain or lose ( except lose a job but rather that than fall foul of the council) but i would like to know can they do this? 

any advice welcome as not sure how to advise then to proceed.

Many thanks

 

[Dan Maynard]

Well they can slow you down by putting a TPO on the tree. You would then be into those realms discussed on a recent thread as to whether the loss of light constitutes a nuisance and therefore exemption.

Is it about the phrase cut back to boundary? That implies flat side on the tree which will look ugly, you could properly reduce to just about the fence line and have some shape to the tree?

[openspaceman]

You might consider an application under the 1992 access to neighbouring land act although it is a bit of a stretch from what is specified:

 

1 (4)(c)the treatment, cutting back, felling, removal or replacement of any hedge, tree, shrub or other growing thing which is so comprised and which is, or is in danger of becoming, damaged, diseased, dangerous, insecurely rooted or dead.

 

else just get a tracked mewp in there

[jose]

The ironic thing was they were the ones that said cut back to boundary , then they changed their mind!

The thing is i can drive a mewp up to the tree, i can also drive a car or truck there. to me its the "we wont let you on our land to do the work " bit. So they going to hold the home owner to ransom so to speak that unless he does the spec they want they will stop all access!

As said its really not my problem, i can walk away but i would like to know for any future similar situations.

 

The other side of my thoughts are that the tree isnt under aTPO and i can cut it the boundary line, stuff them im not breaking the rules. But im crazy busy so not going to but i would think some would.

Cheers

[billpierce]

Can you just wop a line in from his garden and access the over hang that way?

[openspaceman]

9 minutes ago, billpierce said:

Can you just wop a line in from his garden and access the over hang that way?

you would still need the support of the tree from the servient, council, land unless you left an anchor overhanging the garden.

 

 

[Will C]

Does this come under right of access for maintenance? In that to maintain the tree (remove) over the customers garden you need to access the tree (anchor point) the other side of the boundary?  Or can you climb the tree from the other side of the boundary to gain access to the part of the tree that is the customers side of the boundary.
 

This is a genuine question I don’t know the answer to but have been asked in the past.

[openspaceman]

5 minutes ago, Will C said:

Does this come under right of access for maintenance? In that to maintain the tree (remove) over the customers garden you need to access the tree (anchor point) the other side of the boundary?  Or can you climb the tree from the other side of the boundary to gain access to the part of the tree that is the customers side of the boundary.
 

This is a genuine question I don’t know the answer to but have been asked in the past.

I posted a relevant bit from the 1992 access to neighbouring land act. It needs a court order and a county court judge to liberally interpret the law.

[scbk]

The homeowner has some plants along the wall and fence, I wonder if that is their land or council land.

I wonder if you did the work and annoyed the wrong person at the council (or a neighbour), they might kick up a fuss about the unofficial gardening and/or cut it down since it's on 'their' land.

[Khriss]

Its a quality tree next to a house, it supports a wide variety of insect life and mammals. Leave it alone. K