The message
from penance contains these words:
MikeW wrote:
hi
I have a copper beach tree at the end of my garden the neighbour
whose
garden this borders has asked me to prune it. its now about 45ft
tall, and have been asked
to
reduce its height by about 60%
I was concerned about its survival chances.
Tell your neighbour that 60% is utterly unreasonable.
It would leave you with a 15ft stump that likely would affect its
survival.
You haven't seen the tree or the neighbour's property.
If the tree is overhanging the boundary, the neighbour is legally
entitled to have every overhanging part cut back to the boundary line.
Even if the overhanging section is the main leader of the trunk.
If the proximity of your fast-growing tree is endangering his
property (roof, foundations ), he is also entitled to request reduction,
and it's possible his insurance company is demanding it.(Try getting a
new buildings insurance policy and you'll see how picky insurers are
becoming about trees).
If the tree forks quite low down (as many beech do), it may be
possible for a good arborist to remove one or more forks and shape the
remianing one, leaving a single smaller trunk at a lower height. But be
warned, this will be an ongoing job and expense, as beech is a fast
growing resilient tree to 90 ft. Lovely as they are, they are completely
unsuitable for a specimen tree on the boundary of the average suburban
garden; particularly now that climate change offers more gales and storm
damage.
As others have said, use a qualified , INSURED treefeller to do the work.
Janet