To have spent most of the day in tears over trees

[NoMoreTrees]

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.

Start learning! Ask the garden centre,join FB gardening groups for advice and start planning your own garden. You can easily plant at the end of yours,you have a huge space. Not sure this is the time to plant but go and seek advice from those who know.

I get it,I've cried over a hedge being cut down.

I wonder if you live in my village? (Or more likely the miserable truth is that it's happening everywhere).

They're building another new estate which will be on the green belt and make two villages into one with no additional infrastructure or services. And we are already massively over subscribed at the schools/Gp's etc and the roads are jam packed.

the wildlife, of course, has been severely affected already & this new Estate... 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️
the developers have somehow got the council to turn a blind eye to all of this 🤬🤬🤬

@NoMoreTrees it is devastating ! I'd have cried too ((big hugs)) but please try to help your MH by focusing on your kids. People you love & who love you and if you are all in good health, that too. You have a garden, plant what you can. & make the inside of your house & garden your sanctuary. I don't want to make this post any longer, but I lost my health & consequently a lot of other things literally over night. I wish I hadn't taken so much for granted & enjoyed it/made the most of it before. Xx

Yeah it makes your heart hurt doesn't it 😢

the cunt over the back of me had his trees 'sorted/trimmed (butchered) in the nesting season, because the fucking cowboys do it cheaper then.

council were useless.

the 'homeless' birds & dead chicks broke my heart 💔

They deforested a beautiful area near me this week where my dogs ashes are. It oooked like a war zone. I cried like a baby. X

It doesn't matter what loss the trees have for you, and I agree it's sad, they were not your trees.

Use your own garden to plant trees that provide privacy and block the house you didn't know was there. Conifers grow quickly so you will replace them soon enough. There is no reason why you can't do that your garden looks long enough.

My mother considered elders to be weeds. I don't like the smell of the blossom personally.
What about a rowan? A small plum or apple tree? I have a beautiful olive tree in my garden that grew very quickly from a tiny sapling.
Go and spend some time at your local garden centre and talk to the staff. There is bound to be someone who can give you ideas.
DS bought a house that basically had a rubbish dump full of rubble for a garden. Over 2 years he transformed it. He planted a row of tall trees at the end of the garden and a hedgerow and smaller trees and shrubs further up and round the sides. The hedge is full of birds. Planning is key. Make sure you do your homework on soil type, drainage, what the trees will look like in 2, 5, 10 years. How much maintenance needed etc. Check where your drains run and whether you will need to protect them. (Neighbour's tree roots broke the underground pipes causing flooding and subsidence. Unsuitable tree in ridiculous place - totally avoidable). Gardening is therapeutic, you can create something lovely.

It isn't clear from your posts why you hate living there so much. How long have you been there? It looks as if the planning didn't get rejected as such just that the water part of the application needed changing before permission could be granted so it seems you and any other potential buyer would have reasonably expected this to go ahead. The live planning application likely affected the price of your property so you probably got a fairly good deal on your house? And once the development is done your house will presumably go up in value? As others have said the trees are not the best and can easily be replaced by you. It is completely understandable to feel devastated right now but if you can bring yourself to think of the next few years as an investment in your future then you can make a go of this and likely make some money too. The developer's blurb talks about it being a desirable village. Try to focus on the medium term and the positives and you will get through this.

I’m so sorry, that’s just horrific.

I remember a neighbor cutting down a large old tree in her garden that was home to a family of raccoons. I’d watch them going to and and fro living their little lives and then boom, down it came. I called the police - needless to say they were uninterested, despite the trees being explicitly stated as must remain on this new build estate.

Some people just don’t care.

You didn’t really elaborate though. You said you already hated living there and it had ruined your life moving there but from the pictures it actually looks like quite a nice rural spot.

To aswer your question 'Who honestly cares about a squirrel?'

Me, I do.

And the songbirds whose eggs and chicks are regularly killed by grey squirrels? Do you care about those to?

I would be devastated OP, and make plans to move ASAP. I live in an area that is being destroyed due to thousands of new build homes being built. It breaks my heart every time I see the trees and bushes being ripped out. There are hedgehogs, foxes and badgers squashed all over the roads because they have nowhere to go. Rightmove is full of these ugly boxes and nearly all of them are sitting there heavily reduced.

Yes.

Fuckers. I’m sorry for you op. I know what it is to have yo live somewhere you hate. For some people it eats away at them (I am one). When I had this I did my very best to make the house as nice as possible inside. So that at least when I shut the door I liked what I saw. It didn’t make me feel at peace but it did help a tiny bit. Hard to find the motivation to even do it however when you hate where you live. They were lovely trees :(

You need a felling licence to fell trees in the uk. You can check on the forestry commission website if they have one.

Tbh, if its leylandaii that have bern cutting, they suck nutrients out ifvthe ground and aren't particularly attractive. More sun in spring/summer. Plant your own row of fast growing or semi mature native trees and wildlife will bounce back.

Development proposed doesn't look bad - and backing onto decent size garden so separation distances ok. People need homes to live in and you knew it was on the cards before you bought?

Id try and stop moaning and see the positives tbh.

Plant your own leylandii

@ToastersandkettlesAre you for real? You see badgers and foxes all the time because there’s too many of them now! Foxes are everywhere! Neither are prey and as if building really causes overpopulation! It’s no hunting that’s caused too many foxes. I live near HS2. If you want to see real destruction of the countryside - come here. Still see healthy foxes and badgers all the time and the multiplying deer populations destroying trees. Not to mention squirrels taking eggs and red kites eating anything small that moves!

Oh my gosh no YANBU... I'm so sorry poor you that's awful 😢😢😢

My experience living in an urban area people feeding the foxes like idiots leads to overpopulation in concentrated areas but as you say neither foxes, badgers or deer have any natural predators anyway so they are already out of control. .

I was all ready to think you just had January blues, but that is an abomination!
Those were beautiful trees, and made your garden really private
I completely empathise

Looks like a block of mostly Leyland cypress. It would be unusual for trees like that to be a constraint to development.

One of the aerial photographs you posted appears to show a near continuous block of Leyland's. If there's individual trees of different species within that group, leaving them whilst removing the Leyland's would probably have left them rather exposed and not realistic to keep.

Have you looked through the planning documents and found the things titled along the lines of Tree Survey/Arboricultural Impact Assessment/Tree Protection Plan/Arb Method Statement? There will/should be some helpful info in there, particularly the schedule of trees.

Is there a landscape plan for the site? (There should be). Any new tree planting behind yours? It looks like will be a private garden but that doesn't stop trees/hedges being planted.

I am devastated for you, OP. Would it be possible for you to harness your own devastation and turn it into determination to grow your own garden, with trees that screen you from the new development? You’ve had such good suggestions from others about what to grow. Together, we can turn your garden into a new haven for wildlife. Your children will surely enjoy helping you garden too.
Oh, and definitely go and ask the house behind to adjust the angle of their spotlight

The is a dramatic change and I’m not suprised you are sad about it but I think it’s something you will find you get used to. I know it wasn’t just conifers but most the trees that were directly behind your house were and they aren’t the nicest trees and the things about trees is that you can plant them and they will grow!
We moved into a house with a big garden and a lot of ugly trees including conifers, we spent a lot of money chopping them down. We went from having an entirely private garden to being able to see other houses. It didn’t look great but we were playing the long game and now our garden is full of beautiful, interesting, native trees that provide much better habitats for wildlife. If I were you I’d look to plant something at the end of the garden. Even if you can only afford something small it will grow.
The other thing that you should try and see as a positive is that the houses being build are being built far from your house. The gardens are quite long. Once everything is finished you won’t feel on top of them and once the houses are built then you don’t have to worry about something worse being built there like high rise flats or a factory or something.