Trees / Neighbour

Yes. "I leave you to guess what they will be." What? A couple of shotgun blasts in the back? I'd whip that over to your solicitor TOMORROW. I'm sure we could all 'guess' that he means he'll take the law into his own hands and cut them to a size he feels suits him, but on the other hand, it may not mean that at all. Now he's just trying to bully you into getting his own way. Definitely take action to tap this crap on the head.
 
When you've a moment I'd write a letter to the Tree Officer of your local council, with copies of both letters and the original note. I'd also take photos from all angles of the trees in their relationship to his property, and attach these.

I'd then add a list of all the anti-social things he's done in the past so that you can impress on the Tree Officer that you have reason to believe - quite aside from the threats implicit in his reply - that he will in fact take the law into his own hands. The Tree Officer will also be able to advise you on the law, which is what he's there for.

It's a shame you couldn't have agreed this amicably between you, since sycamores are very fast growing and will take a lot of water from both his land and your field, besides shedding huge amounts of sticky sap and even stickier leaves all over both your properties. They also self-seed absolutely all over the place, the saplings growing at incredible speed.

They are not native trees - and to most people are a positive menace! It would be better in fact to top out the trees as he suggested, if you can agree via the Tree Officer, so long as it's done at his expense! This would stop them shading so much of his land, whilst making them bush out to form a denser screen where it's needed.

[My ex husband was a tree surgeon so we were always dealing with things like this...]
 
Would it make any difference if they were oaks? No. He'd still want them lopped. I know there's a great deal of snootiness about sycamores not being 'native', but thanks to the adventurous nature of the British, our landscapes are filled with non-native varieties of trees, shrubs, and flowers originally grown from cuttings and seeds brought back from foreign climes. Cut down the sycamores, and replace them with four or five half-grown Monterey Cypresses. :laughing:
 
Thinking about I reckon a TPO only covers their felling, not sure where they stand regarding the brutalisation though, as there's clearly a distinction between management and vandalism
 
I doubt Songsheet would get a TPO for these trees, as they are not bordering the highway. And most Tree Officers are not disposed to preserve sycamores unless they are in a very sensitive situation.

Having said that, there is NO obligation to lower these trees and the neighbour will be committing all sorts of legal offences if he touches them inside S's boundary, esp if he trespasses to do so

Ask the advice of the Tree Officer, it will remove all doubt, and cover your own back too. You are paying council tax - use the service!
 
I would reply to this email, with the following;

"Sir, alright, il come clean....I am not willing to cut these "Fairy Trees", because i do not wish to encure the wrath of the fairy people. Im sure you are well aware of the stories associated with the trees, and i assume that is why you are anxious that i get someone to cut them rather than you taking it on yourself. After the horrific happenings following the last owners interference with the Fairy Bushes, i am in no way willing to tamper with the trees. I have consulted with lots of locals on this issue and they are all in agreement that these trees should not be touched. <insert name of local> has warned me of an incident involving his now deceased uncle, lost a limb in similar circumstances. There are numerous stories of lost limbs, lives, and sanity throughout these parts. Im sure you will understand that i do not wish to be cursed, and i have my familys safety in mind in making this decision. I warn you not to scorn at my fears, as it is well known the mystical power of the fairies. If you do not heed my warning, i fear for your safety, and urge you to be careful, and if possible,to stay away from me and my family.

I hope this explains my apparent "unreasonable" behaviour in relation to these trees, but i value my sanity and health too much to risk it.

Yours...yada yada yada"
 
Songsheet, before you go legal, would it be worth popping over to see this neighbour in person. With that big smile of yours I am sure you could come to an arrangement that suits you both. It's sometimes easier to discuss these things face to face.

With all the other problems you have at the moment, it may just be one that you can put to bed sooner rather than later. Just a thought....

Clearly if neighbour continues to be a pig let him have both barrels, not literally of course..... :suspect:
 
Kathy, Hard though it will be for most on here to believe, I genuinely do try and get on with those around me! :P When we arrived here, we made every effort to get on with the very small numbers of neighbours we had - this bloke actually lives about 1/5 mile away from me at the top of the lane passing my farm. The following will probably be boring and/or too much info but anyway...

Like most reasonable people do, we introduced ourselves and immediately, without any provocation whatsoever, received a lecture about what he would and would not permit to access the lane - he owns a short stretch of land both sides of the lane at the entrance and the veg patch in question is further down the lane beyond but opposite his cottage and, as previously mentioned, there are five foot high iron girders at intervals down the lane, with no caps on and rusted, and at this time of year, obscured by vegetation.

The previous owners had an agreement with my neighbouring farmer - a single man of about 60 who is eccentric to say the least (Krizon will confirm...). The had made an entrance across his land bypassing the lane's entrance and therefore my objectionable neighbour's iron girders, purely to admit the milk tanker (when we moved in, we offered to purchase the access rights from said farmer and met with the proposal that it would cost us £2,000 - per year!!! How we laughed....). My predecessors were then on the verge of bankruptcy due to falling milk prices and being unable to sell any stock because they had a TB reactor and were closed down. My predecessors were, in fact, on the 'at risk' list held by both Social Services and what was then the Min of Ag - I know this for a fact as they didn't not remove the listing when the farm was sold and I did wonder why they were falling over themselves to solve an environmental problem I had!! The disputes the previous owners had with The Git were legendary and they were not alone - Highways had their fingers burned and so did some contractors who were doing work on the farm. The Git is a retired solicitor with too much time on his hands.

Suffice it to say that the preceived opinion around here is that The Git did everything he could do make life a living hell for the previous owners and was 50% of the reason they filed for bankruptcy. The two brothers were genuinely nice people - I still meet one of them as I am acquainted with his sister who is married to another farmer in our village and we get on well.

I have tried being reasonable and I have also been less than polite and, in fact, just a few months ago witnessed him going to hit one of my dogs with a stick while they were on my property! At which point I spoke to our communitiy policeman, invited him round for a cup of coffee in order for him to assess the temperament of my three dogs which, as he confirmed was excellent because I knew The Git was just wating for an excuse to have yet another pop at me and I wanted it officially logged that he had made a habit of this. I know The Git received a visit from the CP about another matter but during which he was warned that his behaviour to me and my dogs was not acceptable. So this matter with the trees is about the right time period distant from his ticking-off and is his idea of pay-back, no doubt, in his twisted little bourgois mind, for that.

Phew - now you know. Bet you were sorry you commented now, Kathy!! I have no intention of wasting any of my hard-earned on legal fees - if he does start doing anything other than he is legally entitled too, he may find that tractor trailers breakdown outside his house with astonishing frequency and I shall start taking extra care when driving up and down the lane, hooting my horn during the day on the blind corner immediately below his window. Petty, I know, but so satisfying!
 
Originally posted by krizon@Jun 14 2007, 10:01 AM
Where's that useless E.Dead Group when you need 'em, eh?
Click to expand...
This sounds more like a job for The Three Amigos
eek.gif
 
Just tell him you'll get round to it "sometime soon". Very difficult to argue with someone who is agreeing to do something for you.
 
But why?

Why should I either pay someone or trim back these trees at my expense? If he wants to lighten the gloom over his Laxton Fortunes, then fine, he should have sent a polite letter asking if I would consider this, which of course he would be delighted to pay for and at a time convenient to me. It isn't convenient now, because those trees are at the far end of my Nursery paddock, which is always in use at this time of year - I've a pedigree Chub about to calve down and she's using it with Mags and I truly don't have anywhere else to put them.

Remember - these trees don't overhang his house/garden - he purchased this off-lying parcel of ground from a neighbouring farmer and he knew those trees had been planted there.

Personally, if I wanted anyone to do something that was only of direct benefit to me and involved considerable time and expense, I simply wouldn't dream of asking that person to pay for me to do it! It's beyond obvious....
 
Originally posted by Songsheet@Jun 14 2007, 12:14 PM
Kathy, Hard though it will be for most on here to believe, I genuinely do try and get on with those around me! :P

Phew - now you know. Bet you were sorry you commented now, Kathy!!
Click to expand...
:what: Ummm... yes. :P

I just wanted to know you had made some friendly approaches first and based on your in depth response, I would forget the cuppa and friendly chat and just pop your head through your bush when he least expects it and punch his lights out! :D
 
I'd probably make a point of buying camera and recording this guy's actions. He sounds like a total @rsehole.

I had a neighbour like that once and we just lived in a modern cul-de-sac. Every day he was out patrolling the area, telling us where we could and couldn't park. I started by ignoring him, then he tried bullying me more personally. Eventually I lost the rag one day and so there we were, all 5'6" and 11st of me against his 6'2" and 16st having a Western-style scrap in his front garden. I ended up with a black eye and he ended up with a couple of cracked ribs. (My fists could reach his face!)

A few weeks' of ignoring each other were broken when he followed me up the street to the local shop - I was sure he was going to jump me from behind - but he was very conciliatory and asked if we could be friends! I said, "Bill, we're neighbours and right now we can't help that but we'll never be friends." He offered his hand and asked for a truce so I accepted.

A couple of years later we bumped into each other and he was still very pally (excrutiatingly ingratiating, to be honest) and said he'd heard we'd moved away on account of him (I'd heard from other ex-neighbours he'd been ostracised to the point of moving away too) and he'd hate to think it was true. I told him not at all, to rest easy, it was just time for us to move on to a bigger and better place and moving away was the best thing we ever did. I told him how wonderful our neighbours are (laying it on a bit extra-thick) and said we seldom looked back to where we were. The sickened look on his fat, ugly coupon was priceless.
 
Okay, so write back and say sure, you've no problem with the trees being lightly topped out WHEN the Chub is out of the field, WHEN it's supervised by your manager, and IF he's going to pay to have it done. That's a fair enough gesture and far from 'curiously aggressive'. If he doesn't agree, tell him you're dropping the 'curiously' now... :D
 
Back
Top