JenniG

Thank you for all your comments, guys. I'm now looking at alternative options and getting some further quotes next week.

Hi My house and those of my neighbours back on to the main Kings Cross to Kings Lynn railway line. At the bottom of all our gardens are Leylandii trees which vary in height, depending on whether we've had work done, which we believe were planted in the 1970s when the houses were built. My next door neighbour's tallest tree is estimated to be 70' tall but those which have been worked on previously in other gardens may be only 40'. Just before Christmas, a divided trunk on my neighbour's tree split and fell onto a train (luckily no one was hurt). Obviously the potential for damage is something we have always been aware of, hence why most of us have had them cut back and/or topped out in the past. I checked the position with my household insurers and they confirmed that they provided cover for any damage done by the trees as long as they were maintained Network Rail have also come along with chainsaws and chopped bits off at lower levels without consulting us and were even caught climbing the trees in one garden a few years ago to remove branches. We therefore believed they took responsibility for the growth on their side of our fence. Because the trees are right on our fencelines (and NR have installed safety fencing) we have no way of getting to the other side of the trees to check for overhang. We subsequently all received letters from NR to advise that they have identified our trees as a "cause for concern". They suggested we contact their approved contractors for advice - of the three they recommended, 2 won't do private work and the third company want to take all the branches off the railway side of the trees and reduce the height by well over 50%. NR themselves haven't actually specified the work required but have suggested the same reduction (to the height of the return conductor wire, whatever that is!) but not removing all the branches on the railway side (I'd have thought that if we did that it would make them potentially very unbalanced!). We have sought advice from other contractors but two have already told us it is too close to the railway for them to work (the embankment up to the rails literally starts just the other side of the boundary fence). Network Rail's contractor has quoted us almost £4k per property. Most of us are retired or only working part-time and that is simply beyond our finances. I presume that now we have been told that something needs to be done, if something should happen my household insurance would not cover it because NR consider the trees have not been safely maintained. I and my neighbours are therefore wondering what advice your collective experience can give us? We obviously don't want to lose the trees completely because they give us noise protection and privacy, particularly as flats have recently been built on the other side of the tracks. I don't doubt that we have a legal obligation to maintain our trees, but is there any obligation on Network Rail to maintain them on their side of the tracks, particularly as they have done so in the past without consulting us? Is it worth consulting a solicitor or would we just be incurring additional costs unnecessarily? Would it be worth trying to negotiate with Network Rail or do they have us over a barrel? I can't seem to insert a picture so I've attached a file with Googlemaps view - this was taken several years ago but not much has changed! I have highlighted the trees involved (the ones lower down the track were removed when an underpass was built) Many thanks in anticipation of your assistance. trees.docx