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Original poster

Last fucking straw

591 replies

sarahC40 · 09/03/2021 15:34

Handhold please and advice (on how not to utterly lose my shit or get arrested for this). It’s not been a great lockdown.

Saving Grace: my garden. Lovely tree, probably in the wrong place but predates the houses, was cut down without warning, so that my view, which was of said lovely tree, is now of the back of someone’s house. They have now closed all of their blinds because, yes, we are now overlooking each other.

The tree is in no man’s land between the gardens - it doesn’t belong to them. They’ve got down everything that overhung my garden (my son woke up to find men climbing over my fence and most of tree gone) and they’ve left a twenty foot high stump. My other neighbours were open mouthed in shock, so this isn’t just me sounding off; it’s horrendous.

I know there’s nothing that I can do, but I would like some vengeful suggestions that I won’t act on but will help me as I try to stop crying at the fucking awful sight of their fugly house.

OP posts:
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Reinventinganna · 09/03/2021 17:10

I would bury her in the no mans land.

Would you like me to shit on her drive? Flowers

Viviennemary · 09/03/2021 17:10

You liked the tree. They didn't. I don't know what the legal implications are if any. Somebody must own the land. Plant your own tree.

Lurkingforawhile · 09/03/2021 17:11

Sycamore is a good call for growing quickly as well. In the last couple of years some self seeded ones are nearly the height of our house

florascotia2 · 09/03/2021 17:11

jacketpotato trees are incredibly important; if you have children, do you want to them to have a world fit to live in?

lurking It's the law. Decent, responsible, legal tree surgeons know that and plan their work accordingly. It is a criminal offence to destroy or disturb birds on their nests, in a hedge or tree or a barn or even sparrows in your gutters: www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wildlife/plants-for-wildlife/garden-hedges/hedge-law/

user1471538283 · 09/03/2021 17:12

God this is awful. I cant stand people who cut down trees. If its left alone it will grow back. My DU cut back a huge shrub and within a year it was as big as ever. I would advertise for trees and shrubs on facebook and get them planted in your land. Before you know it you will have it and more all back

ArcheryAnnie · 09/03/2021 17:13

@LegendDairy

They cut a tree down during nesting season?
I would report this, at the very least. They may have broken the law.

Which won't bring your lovely tree back. But might make this utter fuckwit pause for two seconds before they do this kind of thing again.

MrsTulipTattsyrup · 09/03/2021 17:13

Our neighbours behind did this a couple of years ago to a lovely beech tree. They are now, and will forever be, known as Tree Bastards. I hate that they can see into my kitchen, but they came off worse as our bedroom is at the front and theirs are at the back, so the loss of privacy is greater for them. They left about 12 feet of trunk which has successfully turned into a pollarded tree, so now it has sprouted a wild head and looks like a bush on a stick, which does at least give the birds some cover and some privacy in the summer.

Definitely check for a TPO and pursue the nesting birds angle. Sending you solidarity and sympathetic seethes.

Reinventinganna · 09/03/2021 17:13

Interesting to read about not being allowed to cut down trees this time of year, we have a new person in the village who has taken down around 30 trees around the boundary of their home. It’s so sad to see.

AgathaX · 09/03/2021 17:14

I'm not surprised you're so upset. I would be too.

Give her a piece of your mind, then spend a happy evening planning what beautiful tree you can put in its place. Failing that, order a few Leylandii trees to really piss her off.

CantBeAssed · 09/03/2021 17:15

If it is an ash chances are it will grow back...the only way to get of an ash is pull it up at roots....i had one in my garden that was over-hanging neighbours garden..no amount of sawing could get rid...when i thought it was at bay it sprung to life again...

OverTheRainbow88 · 09/03/2021 17:15

This happened to us, we’ve got a unloved footpath behind our garden with another house behind and they chopped down a lovely tree in the footpath, ruining our lovey view

HopeHappy · 09/03/2021 17:18

Definitely have a look at your local council website. We've got an enormous beautiful ash tree behind us. I've just checked and it's subject to a TPO.

If it is protected then I think unfortunately both your neighbours AND the tree surgeon could be in trouble. I'd be surprised though if the tree surgeon didn't at least ask before he did any works though. We had a dying tree cut down last year and the tree surgeon specifically asked us if it was subject to a TPO before he started.

AtLeastThreeDrinks · 09/03/2021 17:21

@BeforetheFlood that breaks my heart. Who doesn’t love looking out onto greenery?! I’ll never understand people who lop down trees. It’s a special kind of stupidity when there are global campaigns to save trees to you know, prevent future pandemics etc. I’d have hoped people would learn from this year, but obviously not.

OP, definitely plant lots of fast-growing trees right by the fence. And absolutely give the neighbours a piece of your mind!

SplendidSuns1000 · 09/03/2021 17:22

How crap of them!

In my old house we had a lovely blossoming cherry tree on our driveway. Came home after a weekend away to find new NDN had cut it down and dug up the stump as they were replacing the original victorian railings between our driveways with horrific grey fencing. The tree was growing into the railings and so they removed it all. The railings belonged to us as well as the tree and they'd taken them to a scrap metal place! It was a young couple who eventually got in a lot more trouble when they took out and replaced the windows with plastic double glazed monstrosities in their grade 2 listed building.

If we're talking about arson I'd like to chuck them in your neighbour's shed before we set it alight please!

SoupDragon · 09/03/2021 17:23

they’ve left a twenty foot high stump

That's a whole tree!

Porcupineintherough · 09/03/2021 17:26

Actually it's a monolith (standing dead wood) if dead, or if it lives you could say it's been pollarded. But as I said, if it's an ash its days are limited anyhow.

RainingBatsAndFrogs · 09/03/2021 17:26

OP: are you going to do the one thing that you actually have power to do and which could end up costing them?

It is unlikely that a mature ash tree would not have a tree preservation order on it. They could be fined, a lot.

Contact your council.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 09/03/2021 17:27

@purplebagladylovesgin

I need to add, if it's been pollarded as previous poster suggested and not chopped down, get onto the council and ask for the tree warden to visit you ASAP. Say exactly why in your email. Send pictures.

It's fairly easy to get a tree preservation order put on a tree. This will protect it greatly from further attempts to prune it.

In future an arborist will have to apply to even touch it.

My friend is our local tree warden.

Get an order on it!

Yes! Do this - I was going to suggest the same.

Even if it doesn't have a TPO, if it was on council land they could end up with a fine - and maybe have to replace it.

I would make the bar-stewards suffer - I'd hunt them down like dogs and make them beg for mercy.

We are so desperate for more precious trees - not fewer.

AtlasPine · 09/03/2021 17:27

I’d be so distressed too. What a mean minded thing to do.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 09/03/2021 17:28

@RainingBatsAndFrogs

OP: are you going to do the one thing that you actually have power to do and which could end up costing them?

It is unlikely that a mature ash tree would not have a tree preservation order on it. They could be fined, a lot.

Contact your council.

It could actually be thousands, never mind hundreds and it would serve them right!
LondonJax · 09/03/2021 17:28

As @HopeHappy says, check your local government website - our TPO etc are under planning.

We have two trees in our garden protected by a TPO - one of which is an ash which is checked every couple of years by us using a tree surgeon because of ash die back. Trees are our planets lungs and you don't chop them about unless you really have to - a good tree surgeon works with the tree, not just whacking lumps off of it.

When we have one of them given its haircut every 8 - 10 years (a poplar, grows like a weed!) the council actually come round, take a photo, mark the 1/3 reduction on the photo then come back and photograph it again afterwards to check the 1/3 is all that's gone. If we've had more taken off we're in line for a fine. That's how seriously they take TPOs.

Our local tree surgeon won't touch trees in certain places in our town until he's checked for TPOs as we have a number of them in place and he's in a lot of trouble if he starts work without ensuring he's actually allowed to.

Worth checking. If you can't find the relevant page, call the planning department with the name of the road and they will tell you if there are any TPO or similar on trees.

MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously · 09/03/2021 17:28
  1. Go and buy the highest brightest most fuck off security light you can get and fix it to your house do that it shines straight into all her windows.
  2. Buy your kids a trampoline and put it right up to your border so every time they bounce, they are looking into her garden. Bonus points if you can get a squeaky trampoline.
  3. When she is sunbathing/having a BBQ in the summer/has her washing out to dry, start burning all your garden waste and waft it towards her.

Also do what everyone said and find out exactly who owned that tree and see if you can get the bitch fined/prosecuted. If there were nesting birds, what she did is criminal.
Both of your neighbours knew they were going wrong, which is why they didn't discuss it with you first.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 09/03/2021 17:29

Plus - if it's been killed, wouldn't that monolithic stump actually be dangerous?

Twoobles · 09/03/2021 17:29

Report the tree being cut down during nesting season and plant something that’s quite messy in terms of leaves on your side ASAP. Hopefully their garden will be covered in foliage and you can get some laughs watching the stupid bitch out with a rake every weekend.

I feel for you. It’s a shit thing to happen.

doublehalo · 09/03/2021 17:29

Recommendations, please.

Acacia dealbata grows extremely fast and is evergreen -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_dealbata - and will survive being hacked back no problem at all.

It drops acid yellow petals and seeds all over too so that's an added bonus.

You could spend out and try to get a more mature one, then plant it up with bone meal and loads of manure. 🚀🚀🚀

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