I think this is sad

I heard the chainsaw going and just presumed that it was a neighbour doing their garden. It wasn't until Ozzy was barking at the front window that I saw this:-



The tree was beautiful and whilst it did need trimming because some branches were overhanging a bit close to the end house opposite, it didn't warrant this massacre . I think it is so sad as he has butchered it. I haven't a clue who the guy is as we have been here just over a month so I assume he is a neighbour, but I would have thought he should have asked everyones opinion before just hacking away at it. I just hope he doesn't start on the other tree too

Although it looks bad now...it's amazing how quickly they grow again!

There was a similar tree in between neighbours and my garden, which was cut right back just befgore I moved in (2 years ago).
The branches reached from the bottom of the garden, right up to my house, and were growing along the back of the houses!

In the 2 years since it was cut back, it grew again! Shoots appeared, and then branches and more branches!

We've just had permission off the council to cut it down though, as it's roots are damaging the houses!

I hope it does grow back soon, I understand perfectly that it needed trimmed, but I think they have gone too far with it. It looks like an eyesore now

Thats how the one in our gardens looked after they 'trimmed' it!
I think it's the 'bare' ends of the branches, and the fact there ae not little branches!

It looks like its communal council ground so therefore permission would have to have been sought. If it hasn't then you could complain. Bit late though now. It looks bad now without leaves but it is amazing how well it will come back next year.

Perhaps it was blocking the light to the end house. Although there is no right to light. Councils will listen if people are affected.
I had a huge tree which sat on the boundary of the council and my downstairs neighbours. The branches actually scraped on my window. I asked the neighbours to trim it and they're response (they were moving) was to "hang out my window and do it myself" Well I saw red and complained to the council. After a few weeks of debate of whether the tree was there and me phoning every day to hassle them. They cut the tree down. The neighbours were furios but all I asked was for the tree to be cut back. It was the councils decision to cut it down completely.

Our houses are private not ex-counci or council so I am not sure who owns the land in this case?

Was the tree a native British species ? If it is then he should have checked with the council to see if he could touch it

A neighbour decided to lop down a perfectly healthy sycamore tree to make room for his kids trampoline & bouncy castle-ooops big mistake he got fined & had to plant another tree of the same species in the same place ! He wasn't a happy bunny

He also had a non briitish native species tree that was literally knocking our wall down I had to blackmail him into having cut right down ! What a plonker(trhe tree was rotten inside too)

I wasn't referring to your houses. Looking at your photo. It looks like the green area is a communal area, so it would belong to the local authorities. Therefore permission would need to be sought from them to cut the tree in anyway. My house isn't council but the green areas on the other side of the pavement and the verges belong to them. If the land belongs to the end house in the photo then they can do what they like regards the tree if it isn't a covered by a species protection order. A good indication is who cuts the grass on these areas, if the neighbours do it then it's private or adopted. If the authorites come along on their sit on mowers then the local authorites own or are responsible for it.
I notice there is a street light by the tree on the grass so I am guessing that the latter is true

Sorry, thought you were meaning the houses not the land (not that it matters anyway!)

I haven't been here long enough to see anyone cut the grass and haven't a clue what species of tree it was. Wish I did but it probably was just a common one - I will have a chat with some neighbours to try and find out what the crack is.

Many thanks for your replies

Don't get me started on sycamores - they're a total nightmare round here! We've got a load at the end of our garden, suckers from one a few houses down I think. Our soil here is so sandy and dry that the b****rs throw shoots everywhere looking for water. We just had to take up our patio and removed roots up to 5 inches thick and 18 feet long (yes, we measured!) Our neighbour had to spend a fortune on his drains a few years back, and they have damaged the sewers down the street before now. We're waiting for the council to get a tree-surgeon out to us to have ours removed, and there will be copious quantities of poison to make sure they don't come back!

I'm not all mean though, I will be replacing them with lovely hazels and hawthorn and blackthorn and holly for the birdies to hide out in. And once they're gone, there'll be light over the ideal spot for a wildlife pond