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Destructive tree-cutters & electricity wires.
Maybe there's something that somebody will say that could be of help in
the following situation. Just a metre beyond the boundary of my garden is pole with an electrical transformer on it, i.e. a large grey box up near the top. From this pole wires goes off in three directions. There are the three wires that bring the current to the box, three wires that then cross my garden to to provide electricity to my neighbour, and one thick cable that brings the power to the side of my house. So, a lot of ugly wires all meet in the vicinity of this ugly pole. Previous owners of this property have sought to minimise the ugliness by planting leylandii along the boundary so that the pole is less visible from the house and garden. But every year, without fail, we get out the ladders and clip off new growth so that there are no branches within one metre of the pole or within one metre of any of the wires and the cable. Onto the scene some weeks ago comes a bull-necked gung-ho chappie from the tree-cutting company engaged by the power company which supplies this area. He announces that he is legally entitled to cut away any growth within two metres of any pole, wire, or cable and also legally entitled to reduce the height of any nearby tree which he believes if it were to fall could damage the pole, wires, or cable. I have pleaded with him that if he cuts away an additional metre from the height of the trees or if he cuts down a tall nearby pine-tree the attractiveness of our garden will be very greatly reduced. He cites the case of some child in Scotland who climbed a tree, touched wires on a transformer pole, and died. The power company was sued, he says. Therefore, he is now charged by the power company with the duty of ensuring there is no growth within two metres of any pole, wire, or cable. All around this area now I see his trail of destruction. In the middle of a field, two thick trunks come to a slashed halt about 6 feet above the ground, freshly sawn on the horizontal, because high above them a cable passes. A tall thick hedge which was intersected by a cable at 90 degrees, now has a ghastly great U-shape cut out of it. It's all so unnecessary. Yes, it will probably mean that the power company will never be sued again. Yes, it will mean that few branches or trees will ever fall on a wire or cable again and the company will not be called out to repair the damage. I have promised to continue with my annual trimming but suggested that if the tree-cutter MUST do the job himself then surely he could just honour the level of the previous cut. No, he says, economically it makes greater sense for his company to do a "five-yearly cut", i.e. to trim so much away that they won't have to visit any one site again for another five years! They've decided to do away with going round the same sites every year. Have I got no legal rights in this situation? They ask "permission" to cut, but the tree-cutter has warned that if I do not agree then he has the ability to inform the power company and the power company has the right to turn off the electricity supply! Eddy. I THINK that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the sweet earth's flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, 5 And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. 10 Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. - Joyce Kilmer 1886 –1918 |
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