On Sun, 6 Apr 2003 02:10:49 +0100, bigjon wrote:

On Sat, 5 Apr 2003 15:49:47 +0000 (UTC), Essjay001 wrote:

bigjon scribbled:
I would think the neighbour has dammaged this tree even though he has not
killed it. He is not allowed to do that. Given that he is obviously not a
very friendly neighbour Sue him.

Steve R


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 ?

Thanks for all the helpful advice...


I had this problem with a Sycamore sapling. Over the period of about 7
years the neighbour took the top out at fence height whilst I was at
work. As it sat in the corner of two boundaries, it could have been
either (I suspect they colluded actually). Then one day, whilst I was
attending that part of the garden in a hedge (!) the old dear appeared
in my garden and was startled when I stood up! She made some silly
excuse about dropping her secateurs over the boundary! I told her to
leave immediately and as she turned she said "You don't want that
getting too big it will take all your light" I told her I liked it and
it was staying, now if she didn't mind and I would return anything I
found back to her...

No secateurs, and it stopped being lopped. Within 3 years it was over
15' and had divided and was a truely sound specimein and looked great.
So, sometimes, these episodes pay dividends in long run...

Mark