I live in a mid terraced house. Our neighbour at the rear has a large sycamore tree that obscures our light, fills our gardens with seeds and leaves and most importantly, is pushing over the wall enclosing the rear neighbour's garden. There is an alleyway at the rear of the terrace which provides access to the houses on my street but not to the rear of the property where the wall damage is ocurring. The wall backs onto the alleyway.
I and my street neighbours use the alleyway as rear access to our properties and are increasingly worried that the huge tree is pushing over the heavy stone wall (6ft high) into the alleyway and at some point will fall into the alleyway.
We have asked the neighbour to do something about the tree and she denies that the tree is causing a danger. We can see that there is a huge bulge in the wall where the tree trunk is pushing it. We are worried for our safety first and foremost and would also like the tree gone for light and to stop the leaves and sycamore seedlings that flood our gardens.
In past years we have compromised on sharing the costs of lopping the tree for light but the wall is looking more and more dangerous and the tree owner refuses to accept that it is dangerous. What recourses do we have to force a tree felling and wall rebuilding?
The alleyway is not owned by any of us, it does not provide access to the tree owner's property, only to the houses behind the tree owner's property.