Council tree pruning

akkers

We live in a parish council that owns a small forest/park behind our house. The trees in the park have not been maintained by the council and some of them are hanging over our garden causing problems. Most trees have grown very tall blocking sun to our garden.

We asked the council to prune their trees but they have refused citing a policy they have which allows them a get-out They do not prune the trees but allow residents to do it on small scale.

In our case the tress are so tall and widespread it would be extremely dangerous, if not impossible, to carry out the pruning ourselves. It would need professional tree services for which we are not prepared to pay.

Two questions:

(1) Can a parish council make unilateral policies to get out of paying for services which they should be carrying out?

(2) What can we do to fight this as we are not prepared to pay for pruning trees that belong to the council?

Section62

akkers said:

(1) Can a parish council make unilateral policies to get out of paying for services which they should be carrying out?

Yes, because "should" is subjective and there are no services that parish councils have a statutory duty to provide.

However, they are subject to legal obligations - for example as a landowner - which they cannot unilaterally decide not to fulfil.

akkers said:

(2) What can we do to fight this as we are not prepared to pay for pruning trees that belong to the council?

Two main options I can think of -

A) Having followed the necessary preliminaries, get a professional to cut the trees back to the boundary, then send the bill to the council and ask them to repay you.  If they refuse (which they may have a legal obligation to do, in order to protect public funds) then pursue a legal claim to recover the cost. (chances of success = slim)

B] Having followed the necessary preliminaries, apply to the High Court for permission for judicial review of the council's policy and refusal to keep the trees maintained. (chances of success = you'll probably be bankrupt before finding out)


Other thoughts (any combination of) -

1) Negotiate with the council to share the costs

2) Back down and pay to have the trees cut back to the boundary

3) Follow the council's formal complaints process, then complain to the LG ombudsman

4) Stand for election to the parish council next time there is a vacancy or election, then lobby from the inside.


Only one of those comes with any level of certainty it will work.

FreeBear

Section62 said: Other thoughts (any combination of) -

1) Negotiate with the council to share the costs

Make contact with your local councilor and get them on board.

Note - It is possible that these trees have a TPO on them which would require additional hoops to be jumped through.

twopenny

They have no obligation to trim or shorten trees that are perfectly healthy.
It's unfortunate that you are affected, I had a similar problem and it was very annoying.
You can at least trim the overhanging branches i would have thought if they have given you permission. I managed to raise the canopy on my own with a ladder and saw, pruners sufficient to let more light in and I'm aged.

TELLIT01

Trees do not have to be cut back by the council, or reduced in height, simply because they block the sun to the garden.  The OP doesn't need permission to cut back branches overhanging their property assuming no TPO in place, but I accept it may not be practical if they are very large trees.