any tree surgeons? help please to save our tree!!!

[colB]

Hi, can anyone please help advise about this?

We have in the garden at the front of our house a fir/pine tree ( tried identifying it via websites and thought it may have been a variety of spruce or western hemlock, or maybe a larch hybrid but completely unsure - kids all call it a christmas tree)

Anyway, point of my query is that yesterday a council official called at our house to talk about the tree (now slightly taller than our rooftop so apparently too tall?) and tell me they want to take the top off the tree - probably down to about the level of our first floor. Maybe it's to avoid it contacting a telephone wire which crosses our property to our neighbour's house.

We feel this will spoil and potentially damage the tree and the tree is nearly as old as the house and should stay as it is in the way nature intended! it's a haven for wildlife and I feel there aren't enough trees nowadays in people's gardens - they can make even a troubled and deprived council estate such as ours seem quite pleasant. It's lovely to be able to watch magpies and all kinds of other small birds landing in it, foraging for insects etc. However as we are local authority tenants this woman said, "well, it's our property, we can do what we like with it!" I warned her that if they come to do anything at all to that tree they'll find me chained to it and the press here!

I have phoned tree services at the council and they said if it isn't a leylandii it's actually against their policy to take tops off so they don't know where she cooked that up from and there's nothing on the computer about it or complaints from neighbours etc. However they will come out and inspect it and advise me if it needs any work doing within 2-4 weeks.

Any independent advice about the tree, any work which may need to be done for the tree's benefit, any way I can prevent it being topped without going to the lengths of climbing a ladder and chaining myself to the top (saving my family's embarrassment!!) would all be greatly appreciated.

I'll try and post a photo of it later when I've more time.

Thanks for looking

[JediMaster]

You tried looking at http://www.rhs.org.uk/ibb/posts.aspx?postID=4154 or Google Search "leylandii council"

[colB]

Hi, thanks for that but it definitely isn't leylandii, it's in the middle of our garden not at the boundary, no-one appears to have complained about it, doesn't block anyone's light and it's removal will seriously spoil my enjoyment of our home (ie. I would feel the need to have a 6ft high fence and gates instead of the low fence and trees. I'm now adding a pic of the tree if anyone can help identify the species or further advice. Thanks

[r1ch]

From the size of that and its proximity to the house I'd guess that they're worried about it damaging the foundations of the house or damaging the house itself (or your neighbour's) in a storm - it is a very tall tree to be so close to the house.

[colB]

mmm, maybe, but it's been there probably decades and hasn't blown over yet - they are native to mountain sides aren't they these types of trees? It does bend a little in the wind but I think it's unlikely given that it actually gets quite a lot of shelter from the house.

The photo makes it look closer to the house than it is - there's at least 6 foot clearance between them (10+ if you measured from the trunk.) As for damaging the foundations - I'm sure it will have already done that a long time ago if at all - I moved here 8 years ago and asked if the tree could be taken down and was told no, I had to ask permission which would not be granted as it is one of the oldest trees on our estate! We since decided we prefer the tree as it is, even if it's a bit in the way of the car, the tree was here first!

Besides, she didn't say chop it down and remove it completely, just take the top off it! (Which as I understand it would be detrimental to the tree).

Anyway, thanks for your reply.

Take care.

[r1ch]

No probs - only reason I mentioned it was that I knew a guy whose house had subsidence problems and the first thing the insurance company did was check out the root systems of nearby trees - some of which were 20m away! In the end it turned out that the problem was caused by a hedge about 5m away that had sucked so much moisture out of the soil that it had caused the movement.

On a similar note, if you chop down a tree that is close to your house, its roots will eventually rot - and a significant part of the root system is under the house, that can do unfortunate things to the foundations. If the house has survived decades with this tree close by, it's probably safer to leave it there.

Many insurers will ask about all trees within 20 metres when you first apply for buildings cover anyway.

[colB]

Thanks r1ch. Just can't understand why it's an issue all of a sudden (unless of course she / the housing office wanted it for their xmas tree!!!) LOL as if!

That's useful to bear in mind about hedges - I think nowadays we have to ask permission before planting hedges or shrubs that can grow to be quite large - that's probably why!
- I don't mind that at all but do object to an existing tree being needlessly stunted (she said it would "grow out lovely if you let us take the top off" ie. it would widen rather than grow taller - but wouldn't that mean the roots would extend outwards to the length of the branches too? Thereby increasing the likelihood of the root system damaging the structure of the house?

Clearly I don't know enough about trees! Any tree surgeons home from work yet??

[Taf]

Plenty in here...

http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/index.php

..and lawyers too...

[colB]

Originally Posted by Chris T

On a similar note, if you chop down a tree that is close to your house, its roots will eventually rot - and a significant part of the root system is under the house, that can do unfortunate things to the foundations. If the house has survived decades with this tree close by, it's probably safer to leave it there.

Many insurers will ask about all trees within 20 metres when you first apply for buildings cover anyway.

Thanks Chris - That's a very good point about the roots eventually rotting - we're council tenants so buildings insurance isn't an issue for us but I guess it could be for the council - but then they haven't hassled anyone else about their trees as far as I can tell and there are some much bigger, with much wider root systems, that drop leaves everywhere in autumn ...

---------- Post added at 18:51 ---------- Previous post was at 18:31 ----------

Cheers for the link Taf - I'll try in there too

[Taf]

Don't forget that you have a duty of care for your council house and anything you do, or fail to do, that causes damage to the property will come back to haunt you at some point.... financially.

Our local council mob gave out trees for tenants to plant in their gardens during some green campaign, and now they are removing them after advice from their buildings inspectors.

Plus councils are getting a lot of grief over The High Hedges Law (part of the ASBO regs), especially in relation to evergreens like the dreaded leylandii....