Dead Tree on Council land

There's a dead tree right behind my house up against a wall but on the other side of it on land the local council own. It's a victim of Ash die back sadly.

Been staring at it for a few years now, at this time of year especially it looks so depressing compared to all the other trees in full bloom around it while it's as barren looking as though it's still winter.

I could easily saw it down as it's only about 6-7" in diameter. Then I would aim to dig out as much of the roots as I could and replant another tree in it's place.

Would it be a major no-no for me to go ahead and do this myself?

In a situation like this my view would be that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission - should it even come to that.

It would be illegal for you to do it yourself, even if your intentions are noble. If you report it as a potential hazard to the LA they might take action and do the job themselves. Otherwise, jobs like this are often the kinds of things that local councillors or TDs are only too happy to push

I've done something similair to this before, I tried to deal with the council but gave up after 6 months of red tape. They will not notice at all

Technically speaking it's illegal and if you got on the wrong side of a jobsworth in the council then they could get angsty. Then again they might not even realise it's gone. Just be careful when digging up the roots as you may not know what else is down there (cables etc) and same on replanting.

Personally, I'd get my local councilor to get it sorted or just post it on social media and see if they react. You could also stress the the risk of damage to your property and the Health and safety risk if the tree fell. Might be a load of bull but it may get them to respond.

I'd imagine the councils will be particularly keen to get rid of potential hazards like this after what happened in Storm Eowyn. Especially when someone else is paying.

There's a park near me and it's over a year from today that I watched a guy come in and cut down a large bush that was encroaching over his wall.

Local authority haven't even taken away the debris which is rotting there still.

I'd say the chances of anyone noticing or caring about the OP cutting down a dead tree are nil.

Ash die back is root rot by another name , I removed one I could not believe how soggy mushy and rotten the roots were,The trunk was rotten half a meter over ground,
If you leave it too long to remove it will just fall over in time,once the roots fully rot,
If you are going to ask the council to remove it no harm in saying you have been staring at it a bit longer than you have and say it is ready to fall over,
the one I removed there was no need to remove roots as they were already rotten,
I sowed a Copper beach in its place and I had to fill the cavity left by the rotten roots before planting,

During the last storm an large ash tree fell that looked very healthy when it fell you could see it just gave away just below the soil some of the roots are attached still I see there is buds coming on the branches,

Yet when you look at where it came away from the ground you can see some of the rotten roots from ash die back,

The point I am making is seeing it is a small tree and dead a few years more than likely the roots are fully rotten by the time the buds stop appearing for want of a better word,

@bkenn14 That's a great idea to put in a copper birch. One of my favourite trees with their red wine leaves in contrast to the green everywhere else.

Are you sure it’s dead? Some ash are recovering. It’s a fungus that affects foliage - not a root rot.

extopia said:

Are you sure it’s dead?

Click to expand...

Could it be just resting and pine-ing for the fjords?

I think it's as dead as a dodo. Zero foliage on it, bark starting to detach in places. Been like that for about 3 yrs now.

In the recent storms lots of trees fell over apparently due to having surprisingly shallow ground root systems. There's a lot of Ash die back around me, a few Ash came down after the trunk splintered away at the base and you can see rot in there so maybe the fungus gets into the root system eventually.

I've heard no word from the council yet. There's 100s of trees around me that are down or half way toppled over with nothing being done about them so I doubt my little Ash is high on the list of priorities!