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Crikey, I run an asbestos removal company and by the sounds of it you guys have nearly as much politics as me to deal with

Erm... I'm not sure. The tree house was up well before the development started, and i went and checked about the tree as soon as their plans were submitted and insisted on seeing the plans for the trees as they had already started lobbing down a row of poplars only 50 metres away. They assured me it had been protected. There were bits of angle iron nailed all up the tree from before i moved here, probably by kids years ago ensuring a footing for their climbs, but i have removed all these some time ago. Oh sorry... i thought you said pre and not post )

Hi and thanks for all your valued input. I know i'm just splitting hairs, but i never actually drilled into the limb in any way. No power tools whatsoever. I used two coach screws and a ratchet to screw them in without any piloting. No the tree isn't mine, but neither are the rest of the scrubland and trees round there, but it doesn't stop me going out there and keeping it all trimmed and tidy. No defence i know. We all want our kids to have something we wished we'd had when we were kids, and we ALL climbed the trees i'm sure, no matter who's they were . This oak has probably stood there for 300 years plus and will be there for another 200 probably. In the true scale of things i know i'm not compromising the health of this tree in any way, but the suits tend to override common sense with the rule book so i think i'm gonna have to try for an alternative. I did say to my neighbour, who is a building site manager about planting a second hand telegraph pole just behind the treehouse and against the treehouse so to act as support, but he said that it's illegal to dig deep holes so close to the oak... if that's true (?). Im sort of caught between a rock and a hard place. I wouldn't mind getting the council guy round to look as long as he's approachable. But its a toss up with badge carriers... i think we've all experienced that Many thanks

Meaning? I have uploaded a few pics on the link... Cheers

Hello. I would appreciate any advice here as i dont know who to ask other than my local authority, who i suspect will not give me unbiased advice in this instance. Three weeks ago, i set about building a zip line in the garden for the kids. They had pestered me to do it since i suggested it two years ago so this year i bit the bullet I sourced all the stuff within a week and got it erected over a weekend. The launch platform is the balcony of a tree house i built for them 5 years ago. This tree house is on 8" stilts and is not connected to the tree it sits beneath in any way. The tree is a large oak and is outside of my garden on the boundary of a new development which used to be a field. It is situated on a swathe of rough ground which also serves as a public footpath. This ground still belongs to the developers at the moment, and last year i had to call them out after a very large limb fell off outside my back gate. After some tooing and froing they sent a team of arbourists to tidy up and pruned the tree at the same time. I love this tree My wife hates is because she cant sunbath after 4pm but that's life lol I even put a large double glazed window in the roof of the treehouse so the kids can watch the squirrels. Anyway - back to the zipline... I used an 8mm steel cable secured at the bottom end of the ride to an 8" pole i sunk in the ground. At the top end (the treehouse balcony) i secured it to an identical pole, the bottom of which is secured to the treehouse balcony and the top of which is screwed to a large limb of the tree. I did not remove any bark to do this. The cable is fixed maybe two thirds the way up this pole. I naturally did not want to fix the line directly to the tree, although all the websites i researched for the project said to do exactly that. I did not want to harm the tree, or indeed place 100% of the stress on the limb, so the pole was the best option. I finished building this about a week ago, and the kids love it. I know there is a preservation order on this tree because i checked when the development was approved on the field behind, as i did not want them turning up one day with their chainsaws. Like i say, i do love the tree. This swathe of land is now in the process of being handed back to the local authority, who will then be responsible for it. After speaking to a friend, i am now worried that they could get funny about me securing this post to the limb, i don't know how strict the law is/can be. The cable is not taut, there is a fair bit of slack, and the tension is shared between the tree and the treehouse. It would be very difficult for me to secure this high enough by any other means. I could, i suppose, take the screws out and use webbing straps somehow, but i dont know how anal these council bods can be. I have uploaded some pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35186356@N02/ Any advice would be much appreciated regarding just how strict a preservation order is concerning oaks, and if you think i have a viable standpoint/argument should the need arise. If i have to take all this down the kids are gonna brain me Thanks in advance.