On Sat, 5 Apr 2003 03:41:04 +0100, bigjon wrote:

~Our rear garden backs onto the one opposite. We had a lovely young ( 12ft )
~Snake Bark Maple in the centre of the back border. Our wonderful neighbour
~took it upon himself to trim all the growth over all his fences, including
~the leading shoot of our tree, which was slightly leaning over his fence (
~about 10 degrees, and not casting any shadow, over his 12 x 6 shed roof ).
~This has reduced the tree to an upright trunk of about 6 feet and a top
~branch of about 6 ft that leans dramatically back into our garden at about
~45 degrees. My questions - was he legally allowed to basically destroy a
~healthy tree in this way, as it did not cause any real problem to him, and
~should I remove the top branch to allow another to become the lead ?

You are legally permitted to trim off everything that overhangs into your
garden from next door, up to the boundary line. So if the lead shoot of a
tree is over and gets trimmed by the neighbour you can't do a thing I'm
afraid.

I've got the opposite problem - I want to rejuvenate an ancient woody
honeysuckle which my neighbour borrowed a shoot from years ago before we
moved in and which is now completely covering his pergola. I will therefore
ruin his display by cutting down my own plant!!!

I don't know about the branch - phoning a tree surgeon may be the best way
of getting advice on how to restore the symmetry. I have three large
intertwined trees which are only in the garden for the first three feet and
then over another neighbours. I wish to goodness they WOULD cut them!!!


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

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