Big Oak tree dying on my fathers property, help please

happyhero

Hi, my father asked me to put this on here for him. He has a big Oak tree we guess about 50 plus years old right on the corner of his front garden and next to it on the pavement there is a telephone pole about 1 1/2 meters away, so very close basically. There are about 7 lines coming from this pole and most of them are surrounded by branches.

It gets a bit worrying when the wind is strong as the branches push and batter the lines as they move. There hasn't been too much trouble so far as we try to cut the branches regularly with one of those long loppers to keep the lines as free as possible, but a little while ago he had the tree checked by an expert and they said it is sick and is slowly dying. It has some funny growths at the bottom and the guy said it is slowly going hollow. There isn't any danger of it falling for a good few years as it still has plenty of foliage and looks quite healthy but they said it would need attention at some time in the not too distant future. And the lines are getting attacked more and more now by the branches.

Also a comment was made that BT should be in attendance when the tree is being worked on as there is a chance of some damage to the lines as the branches are cut and removed. They also said BT may decide to disconnect first before any work is done.

My questions therefore are:-

Would BT charge for this and any idea how much?

Has the total cost got to be paid by my father since the tree is on his property? Or can it be shared somehow by the other householders?

What would happen if he left it and it damaged somebody else's line, would he have to pay BT for the repair?

Any help appreciated.

mrs_baggins

just my opinion but I would think that as the tree is on your fathers land he would be the one liable to pay for cutting down etc . Check with local council first as there may be a TPO on the tree as its old.I am presuming the pole is not on your fathers land?

Phone up BT with a hypopthetical question about it.

martindow

I'm sure it will be more than 50 years old - that like as child in oak tree years!

mikeywills

There was a programme on last night about kew gardens and Oak trees, they were going to look at an old tree in Portsmouth reputed to be 900 years old. They drew reference to that particular tree having a number of branches that were completely dead but still intact. I would recommend getting someone out to give you a quote for pollarding the tree, and to see whether it is saveable. If there is a TPO on it there is a good chance you would require planning permission to undertake this work anyway.
If the tree is so close to the BT pole is there any chance the tree roots were damaged when the pole was put in?