Neighbour hacking off boughs - conservation area

[JennyForeigner]

Hi all, grateful for your expertise.

We live in a listed house in a conservation area with a beautiful garden and mature trees. We are good tree owners, having them annually checked and trimmed, and have removed unsuitable overgrown Leylandii with roots too close to houses.

We have had new neighbours for a couple of years. We have worked hard to get on well with them but they have upset people by replacing the grass verge at the front of their house with plastic mat without permission, lots of cars and basically being a bit tasteless in a community people move to for its greeness and wildlife. They have massively extended at the back without keeping within the permissions granted. The male half of the couple told me he plans to pave and AstroTurf their garden, and that he dislikes our (rather beautiful) garden because of the 'messy' plants. We have 8 foot fences.

About six months ago he asked if they could take down the overhanging boughs from a line of lovely trees including silver birch on our side of the boundary. He considers these 'untidy.'

I said that we understood it was his right to ask and that if he wanted to work with our tree surgeon would not object. Under a bit of pressure from him I agreed that if he had a preferred tree surgeon we would meet them and provided we were satisfied, allow them to work in our garden. I felt uncomfortable about this afterwards as I felt what he really wanted was to get some dodgy mate around.

Today I saw him up a ladder, sawing through one of the larger boughs from our silver birch. He had given no thought at all to how to do this properly, or minimising damage to the tree. We have been in all day and he didn't attempt to speak to us.

My husband now feels I was unreasonable for asking him why he didn't knock on our door and ask before getting his saw out. He stopped, but was not nice about it and I am now really quite unhappy. I don't believe for a minute that he would have stopped if I hadn't caught him, while we have three very young children and the trees are in a built up bed by the fence where there is a substantial level change. There is a risk that the trees will become unbalanced and unsafe, as well as looking awful.

I am frankly furious, especially as we have been so thoughtful and accommodating.

AIBU to tell him he can do one if he ever so much as mentions working on our land again?

And am I right to think he should have had permission before the work took place as we are in a conservation area? I am not sure about this, but would love it if I could tell him no on this basis. We have always had permission before getting our tree surgeon in, but as we have been taking leylandii out, I'm not sure if this is what the permission is for.

Would really appreciate any guidance people can give. AIBU?

Evening update - our neighbour has just been around to see us again.

He says now he didn't realise this is a conservation area or that there are rules about trees.

His argument is that our trees are infringing his 'right to light'. He patronises me and bosses my husband.

We have realised that one of the reasons we feel so uncomfortable is that the big glass panel directly outside our kitchen has broken the reasonable barrier between our houses. We feel overlooked and honestly really anxious.

I suspect he realises he has pushed us too far and is worried about us making a report, because he is saying now that he doesn't want to fall out with us. In all honesty, we really don't want to be at odds with a neighbour but we can't just give him license to keep chipping away at us or doing whatever he likes.

I told him to apply to the local authority before any further work on the trees.

The irony is that the trees are well-managed and kept small compared to others in the village. We are on his west side. The light he is losing can at most be a couple of feet of shadow in the evening on a tiny proportion of a large garden neighbouring the fence. I can only think he just really hates trees.

🙂 Thank you for taking the suggestion in good spirit. I am feeling a bit anxious and uncomfortable about all of this.

We are going to put cameras up. It feels completely mad but we just feel a bit exposed now and with three very young children, had decided it was a good idea anyway.

@JennyForeigner

I said
Personally I wouldn't be surprised if your neighbour hasn't followed all the regulations both with regard to trees and some aspects of his extension

perhaps the double negatives ,confused .My apologies.

I don't feel silly,why should I ? Why do you assume that you know how knowledgeable I and other posters are ?

It will be interesting to hear the L.A,'s comments ,hope (for your sake )it's not a protracted business .

Hope they sort this quick

He says now he didn't realise this is a conservation area or that there are rules about trees.

Maybe he didn't ,@JennyForeigner .You weren't sure yourself about the position regarding trees in a conservation area .It's one of the reasons you posted .He asked you if he could take down the overhanging boughs and you discussed who would do it .
It's not surprising that he also lacked the knowledge ,

Round up all the villagers and chase him out of town with your pitchforks.

If it's any comfort OP your neighbour is going to find it very difficult to make any progress with claims to "right to light" .It really isn't that simple unless he has an easement .
And your LA planning dept will have detailed policies on overlooking windows and distance from neighbouring properties .You can look them up yourself ,they will be online .

And your LA planning dept will have detailed policies on overlooking windows and distance from neighbouring properties

try looking for SPD ( supplemental planning document) Residential Design .Under the name of your local authority .

Yes, ok. The difference is that when I was unsure of the rules on trees I didn't just go out and start hacking at them.

Thanks, really helpful! Will do.

Right to light will not have any bearing in this situation, you need to have fairly strong grounds to cite this.

I suspect the council has already been on the phone to him and that's why he has come round, he is trying to get you onside because he knows his extension is not as per the plans. As for the trees.... Yeah if this had been a standalone incident I'd probably have given him benefit of doubt but given everything else, I wouldn't now. He would certainly know on a quick Google that you can cut back overhanging branches but you can't just do what you want to them! He knows this......... He's playing you.

Thank you. We have a silver birch, a lovely historic yew hedge trimmed into a pyramid which is echoed through the village, an old apple and a lovely lilac.

Our previous neighbours in that house were a lovely Hungarian couple who used to come and pick the lilac and make a syrup out of it.

The irony is that we do manage our trees to the extent that the neighbours at the end of the garden were worried we might reduce the screen on that side too much! We discussed everything we planned with them and our tree surgeon, and made sure they were happy we were acting in the interests of the health of the trees.

@JennyForeigner You have 8ft fences - was planning permission obtained for them when they were erected? It’s required for a fence over 2m (1m if it borders a road)

I would assume that given OP is well aware of regulations regarding listed properties and conservation areas that the fence was there prior to them moving.

My neighbour trying pulling this one.... Rules clearly state if its already there, you can replace with same height.

@JennyForeigner

Do all of the trees have TPO's (tree preservation orders)? If so he can't cut them even if they are hanging over his land.

To do need he would need permission from the tree officer.

As I said previously if you do have TPO's and he has cut a tree without permission contact the tree officer and report that is was not you.

I personally know of cases in the south east where neighbours have cut down trees with a TPO and been fined

Is it possible to apply for TPO's to be put on the trees so he can no longer touch them?

If he carries on, I'd start planting a row of Thuja Plicata and he'll be in trouble. He's an arsehole of the highest order and he needs to be dealt with accordingly.

Yes, ok. The difference is that when I was unsure of the rules on trees I didn't just go out and start hacking at them.

Its quite possible that he didn't get to first base and realise there were any rules ,never mind being unsure of them .And I'm afraid that discussing who would do the work rather than you saying "oh ,hang on a minute permission might be required" could have reinforced the idea that there were no rules .

You haven't said ,but I presume you now understand that I have not "hazarded" that your neighbour broke no permissions .That you wrongly jumped to that idea.And that I would be feeling silly about that .

Happy to correct the record on this as I have now checked. The houses are both raised from what was once farmyard. The fence on the patio is 5 foot, and then continues in a straight line with two presumably one foot base boards, so 7 foot-ish in total. One of these seems to have been installed as some kind of retaining wall for another level change between gardens.

However: one of the unusual things about the former estate village is that it was all compulsorily purchased by the local authority at one point. This is at heart a very unusual ex-council house.

The next door plot was carved out by the council, who also took the land at the end of the garden and put in the boundaries. I think we can assume they knew what they were doing?

I worked for a while in planning. Report the extension and the tree cutting. They go nuts over people not respecting conservation rules. If it's not allowed, they won't let him get away with it.

And for those wondering, in the council I was at planning and building control sat side by side but would never flag up whether the right permissions were in place for the bit they didn't deal with. They were just seen as completely seperate roles.

There are giant redwoods on the cliffs. Do you think I could pot one on?

Report all breaches to planning enforcement. I only read the OP but I work in planning band this really irritated me. Don't move to a conservation area and mess things up.

You need more than one!
I'm sorry you're having to go through this. I'm afraid he's a philistine and I wouldn't negotiate with him anymore. Why did he buy the place knowing there were mature trees behind him? Most people would see this as a huge plus. I feel saddened that some do not appreciate the importance and value of mature trees.

OP says she outsourced tree works to a local professional who would know the rules and wanted the neighbour to have a professional do any works though.

The neighbour would have known that they were in a conservation area - unless both their conveyancing solicitor and the local planning authority neglected make it clear?