County Council and Tree Maintenance

Kelmar

Registered User
Messages
64
My house is located beside a field which is owned by the County Council. In this field there are 2 very large trees which overhang my house. Because the trees have not been maintained branches regularly fall into my garden; last winter during a storm a very large branch broke off and and narrowly missed my house. My sons bedroom is the closest to this tree and from his bed he can see (through a Velux) the branches blowing around. During high winds he is now too scared to sleep in his room and I dont blame him - it is only a matter of time before a branch (or the entire tree) comes crashing down on my house!

For several years I have been ringing and writing to the council to urge them to cut back the branches nearest my house. I could not get any real response other than "we will look into it" Lately I have also written to a local councillor and he has been able to get a writen response from the council which basically states that they have no money to do tree maintenance!!

I have some questions which hopefully someone can help me with;

Is is not a legal requirement that all property owners who have trees must ensure they are properly maintained? I seem to have read somewhere that it is but cannot find where.

What course of action can I now take - Should I take legal action ?

Appreciate any advice
 
you are intitled to cut any branches that overhang your property, but you must return the cut material to the owners property! However, not too sure of your rights if the tree does not actuually overhang your land.
 
Thanks.

The tree does actually overhang my garden so I guess I will need to deal with this myself even though the council own the trees.

If it was the other way around and I owned the trees that were impacting the council I am sure there'd be a different story....