Badly sited tree and housebuying

[BobApple2023]

I'm looking to buy a house. For some reason, the county council has picked the horse chestnut as the right species to plant in a narrow grass verge in front of the house. The tree is young and about 6ft high but I'm conscious that it will grow much, much bigger. The house I'm looking at buying is 7.5m from the tree so I would expect that at maturity the tree could affect the house foundations and driveway, as well as overshadowing the house. Not only that but I suspect it'll ruin the pavement and affect the road eventually. I would like to understand if the council would acknowledge the risk and replace the tree with a more suitable species.

 

I made an initial enquiry of the council to ask if they'd look at it, but they came back with a nonsensical response that they don't replace trees because trees are good for the environment (paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it). So I need to go back to the council and try again but before I do, I thought I should check with people who might be able to suggest the right buttons to push to get them to look again. Has anyone got any advice on how best to approach this please? Thank you!

[AHPP]

1 hour ago, BobApple2023 said:

The tree is young and about 6ft high but I'm conscious that it will grow much, much bigger.

 

It doesn't have to.

[BobApple2023]

Well yes, if I follow you correctly, but let's imagine that the tree dies a tragically young death (due to natural causes, of course) then I bet the council would replace it with the exact same species. they didn't seem to display much commonsense in the original choice. Or perhaps I misunderstand your point.

[Mark Bolam]

IF it were to tragically die at a young age, replace it with something more suitable yourself.

[BobApple2023]

1 minute ago, Mark Bolam said:

IF it were to tragically die at a young age, replace it with something more suitable yourself.

That thought crossed my mind. I wondered if the council would eventually notice, if they do some sort of audit or tree survey. Don't laugh 😁I have no idea how these things work aside from seeing that tree matters always get taken very seriously by the authorities!

[AHPP]

Quietly knack it. In the extremely unlikely event it gets replaced, quietly knack that too.

[BobApple2023]

So I checked Streetview which has history! I didn't know that - super useful. Anyway, there used to be a lovely medium sized cherry blossom that must have died (it looked a little decrepit) and it was removed and then a year or two after that the Horse Chestnut was planted. So, I apologise to the council for saying they'd just put the same species back - no, instead they replaced a suitable tree with a daft choice.

[Mick Dempsey]

Cherries are pavement lifters. 
If it’s only 6ft tall don’t worry about it, it’ll be decades before it becomes an issue. 

[Con]

Personally, if I were you, I wouldn't damage it. Even if you intend replacing it. Especially since you've already approached the council and started a thread on a public forum.  It does seem a bonkers choice of species though. I wonder if it's just what they had a stock of. You've done the right things so far, just ended up with the wrong person dealing with it. Have another go, see if you can speak to someone else. Good luck. 

[richyrich]

Yes, hopefully the council workers or contractors don't damage it- careless strimming damages the bark.

[Gordon S]

1 minute ago, richyrich said:

Yes, hopefully the council workers or contractors don't damage it- careless strimming damages the bark.

True 🤥 👍 Happens all the time!