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AIBU?

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To have spent most of the day in tears over trees

311 replies

NoMoreTrees · 09/01/2026 16:56

We moved into this house just shy of a year ago and I regretted it almost instantly. I absolutely hate it here, it has pretty much ruined my life and for the last few months my mental health has been in tatters and I’ve had some very, very dark days.

One thing I did like about the house though was that at the end of the garden, on the other side of the fence were some beautiful tall trees. Dozens of trees with hundreds of birds that you can hear singing all year round, an owl, squirrels and other wildlife. The trees ran the entire length of our row of houses and a bit further.

On the other side of the trees is a small field, and while we were having surveys etc done they brought up a planning application for a small development of 9 houses in that field, which had been rejected by the water company.

Well I’m sure you know where this is going… obviously the water company were offered more money changed their minds because before the sun was even up this morning a bunch of men in hi viz and hard hats rocked up with a chainsaw, a bulldozer and a woodchipper and one by one started tearing all the trees down. By the time they had downed tools and fucked off there was only one tree left standing at the end of our garden and one or two surviving further down… for now at least.

I just can’t stop crying. I can’t even bring myself to look out of the windows at the back of the house. All those beautiful trees, all those birds, all that wildlife, gone. It was one of the very, very few things that made living here tolerable, and now instead of trees and birdsong, there is going to be a building site. Just when I thought I couldn’t fucking hate it here more.

To have spent most of the day in tears over trees
To have spent most of the day in tears over trees
To have spent most of the day in tears over trees
OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
AInightingale · 09/01/2026 22:47

I'd imagine conifers are useful for birds in the winter, as deciduous trees hardly provide much cover or shelter Nov-April. My mum had collared doves in hers.

Melarus · 09/01/2026 22:46

That's awful - I'd be sad too.

However I'm quite envious of your nice big garden!

captainoctopus · 09/01/2026 22:43

Plant some Japanese Knotweed at the end of your garden - no one will buy the houses 😁

UncannyFanny · 09/01/2026 22:36

NoMoreTrees · 09/01/2026 21:57

They’ve cut deciduous trees down too

The majority were not deciduous in those pictures though.

NotnowMildrid · 09/01/2026 22:32

As awful as it is, it’s not the end of the world.
Plant your own lovely trees on your side of the fence.

NooNooHead · 09/01/2026 22:31

Stupid arsey horrid people. Those poor beautiful trees...💔😪

Why are people so utterly disrespectful of nature and its beauty? How appalling and upsetting for you, OP. I think I'd be heartbroken too.

So sorry you have lost something so special. 😢

ChattyCatty25 · 09/01/2026 22:28

NoMoreTrees · 09/01/2026 22:27

We get it, you don’t like conifers. Can I still be sad about the deciduous trees, the birds, the squirrels, the owl, the loss of shelter and privacy?? Let me know.

Conifers still provide vital shelter for birds and squirrels.

ChattyCatty25 · 09/01/2026 22:27

EchoedSilence · 09/01/2026 22:25

You have a nice house to live in? A house to live in is not a human vanity. It's a basic need.

Nobody buying new builds are coming off the streets.

By the way, same property developers destroying the countryside are buying up and destroying affordable housing in cities, converting it to luxury flats. They are creating a lack of housing, then acting the heroes by “solving” it.

NoMoreTrees · 09/01/2026 22:27

EchoedSilence · 09/01/2026 22:21

Leyland trees are not a great loss.

We get it, you don’t like conifers. Can I still be sad about the deciduous trees, the birds, the squirrels, the owl, the loss of shelter and privacy?? Let me know.

OP posts:
bellhawk · 09/01/2026 22:27

I agree you should try to use your garden to plant trees instead - it's something you can control. You could have your own woodland by that fencing area instead.

Many native trees grow fast and you can get lots of advice on The Woodland Trust website - they sell saplings in bundles too.

Clangershome · 09/01/2026 22:26

How awful. Surely there must be a complaint system? Those trees look vital for all!!!

EchoedSilence · 09/01/2026 22:25

ChattyCatty25 · 09/01/2026 21:59

YANBU, that’s absolutely devastating. Those housing developers are completely unethical and destroying the environment left right and centre. This is why I’d never, ever buy a new build house.

I feel absolutely gutted whenever I see another beautiful field or trees being ripped up and concreted over, or more farm fields being destroyed when we don’t have enough land to feed ourselves as a country. I can’t even look at the sites and avert my eyes. It’s horrible to think of all the wildlife that die for this particular human vanity.

You have a nice house to live in? A house to live in is not a human vanity. It's a basic need.

FeeLipa · 09/01/2026 22:24

That's really shit OP.

I pet sit a pair of cats regularly throughout the year. Their house used to be solitary on a quiet lane surrounded by fields. A whole estate went up with the entry road running alongside their house. Another one is now springing up behind them stretching all the way back to the main road. Each time I'm with the cats the view out the back is more and more crowded. It's not even my house and I'm upset.

EchoedSilence · 09/01/2026 22:21

Leyland trees are not a great loss.

NoMoreTrees · 09/01/2026 22:19

According to the most recent planning application “There will be a small number of trees which will be lost as a result of the development and there will be a number of new trees added. The trees lost are not considered to be of significant value (in particular the Leyland Cypress trees).”

Small number?!

OP posts:
centaury · 09/01/2026 22:13

SchoolDramas · 09/01/2026 20:34

You can complain to the council. It seems to be common practice to clear the land before planning is granted so developers can ignore the biodiversity rules - where I am developments are supposed to have a net gain to biodiversity so they just chop the trees down before submitting planning :/ Buu you have a record of what was there, so may be worth raising, you never know they may have to replace them. They may have left the others because of nesting birds, apparently with climate change birds are nesting for more of the year now so it's getting harder to do work on trees. If there are nesting birds you can make them stop work. But definitely raise it and check they have done things properly and it's not, see what you can do. If any of them have tree protection orders they would be in a lot of trouble.. you can possibly apply for TPO for the remaining trees...

It does happen but it is not allowed. Any clearance of a site after Jan 2020 requires baseline surveys to be done. The environmental teams who assess planning applications can and do use aerial imagery from e.g. Google to see if habitat has been destroyed in the last few years. If it's been cleared before doing a baseline survey & submitting a planning application, the value of the lost habitat will be estimated and this can end up being very costly. In practice though, a lot of developers still get away with it.

5MinuteArgument · 09/01/2026 22:03

KeepPumping · 09/01/2026 19:37

Can"t see the population expanding much more TBH, the political winds have changed big time, the expansion is from immigration not births, sales of new-build houses are down 60% already. I had a recent experience of a patch of natural land and trees being cut back and it feels like a loss, I think in this case though it will be allowed to grow back, there is no development planned, so sorry OP that you feel bad about this, just move if you can and the area is making you sad.

I hope you're right. But I see many green spaces where I currently go walking being earmarked for development. The local people are fighting it.

NoMoreTrees · 09/01/2026 22:01

This is what the planned development will look like… the purple plot is my house/garden. So there is going to be some nature left behind, not that I’ll be able to see any of it. The Gate House is the one now shining like the fucking Eiffel Tower, apparently it belongs to the person who used to own that field… well they’re probably a few hundred grand (at least) richer now so I doubt they give a shit

To have spent most of the day in tears over trees
OP posts:
ChattyCatty25 · 09/01/2026 21:59

YANBU, that’s absolutely devastating. Those housing developers are completely unethical and destroying the environment left right and centre. This is why I’d never, ever buy a new build house.

I feel absolutely gutted whenever I see another beautiful field or trees being ripped up and concreted over, or more farm fields being destroyed when we don’t have enough land to feed ourselves as a country. I can’t even look at the sites and avert my eyes. It’s horrible to think of all the wildlife that die for this particular human vanity.

NoMoreTrees · 09/01/2026 21:57

EchoedSilence · 09/01/2026 21:49

I don't think I'd be devastated about the loss of conifers.

They’ve cut deciduous trees down too

OP posts:
ColdWeatherWarning · 09/01/2026 21:57

Same thing happened to me, twice, in two different houses.

It is devastating and infuriating.

EchoedSilence · 09/01/2026 21:52

Perhaps they will replace them with native trees. I'd rather that than a row of conifers.

EchoedSilence · 09/01/2026 21:49

I don't think I'd be devastated about the loss of conifers.

honeyfox · 09/01/2026 21:43

I'm not in the UK but exactly the same thing happened to us in our new estate. The field behind us was sold, only our developer had access so he blocked anyone buying it until he got it himself. Diggers arrived at half past seven one morning and pulled our trees down, although there weren't many. I absolutely cried my eyes out. There was a big fat bird that that always perched in one of them and I was worried for him. It was awful, all built on now.

andthat · 09/01/2026 21:41

NoMoreTrees · 09/01/2026 19:46

We can only do so much with the garden on account of the three small DC… I’ve planted a couple of roses and kept the pre-existing dahlia, roses and honeysuckle (or it might be some kind of jasmine, I’m not sure) alive despite the bindweed’s best efforts…

I didn’t know how miserable I would be here until we were already here, it’s a big change from where we used to live and a few circumstances beyond our control have changed and only made it harder. One of the few pleasures was seeing and hearing all the birds, watching the squirrels, hearing the owl at night.

The housing developer is delighted though… in their own words “We’ve got a big year shaping up already. Work is expected to begin onsite, bringing a brand new collection of homes to one of the county’s most charming villages. It’s always special watching a project come to life from the very first dig, and this one is set to be a highlight”

Can’t say it was very special watching the destruction this morning. And a PP was dead right, starter homes they are not… they’ve done another smaller development on the other side of the village and the cheapest house was £750k.

You could get in touch via social media and ask them what landscaping plans they have for the development.