School at the back of my house

[bloomingbtambles]

Our end terrace house backs on to a school, there is a narrow alleyway at the back to give access to the other gardens and a 6 foot wire fence between the alley way and the school.

There is a line of trees in the school grounds which have got bigger & bigger so it goes in a cycle we and other neighbours complain to the school, eventually they get cut back and then it starts again. For another few years.

So over the summer we have been emailing, all the lower level brambles and sampling's have grown up & over the summer there was a solid wall of shrubbery about a metre from my fence, with the trees above them

The school have come back saying no money in the budget etc etc so today I'm working from home & realise they have workmen at the back who have cut pathways through the undergrowth and are replacing the fence. So I'm straight out there (in my slippers ) asking if they will cut more down!

They refused - 'in this day and age the school needs privacy, the school don't like us to be able to see the children! '

So I quickly email the school and say look the workmen are there, the fence is down please let them cut down some more undergrowth! It was passed to the headmaster apparently but it's too fucking late now the fence is back up the fucking undergrowth is still higher than 6ft in places!

Where would you go with this? Is there anywhere I can complain too?

Bored yep but I would also expect a school to have some sort of maintenance program to actually look after their trees!

It's not a forest, it's a school boundary!

It's not even the trees that are the main issue now, they're so tall they don't even factor - it's the lower level duff - sampling's and brambles.

No vest, we can gut it back to the wire up to about 7/8 feet - it's the higher level stuff.

Munson, that might be a good point re it being a hedge!

Bored yep but I would also expect a school to have some sort of maintenance program to actually look after their trees!

Other than not cutting them to a level you approve of, what aren’t they maintaining?

I'm having the same issue with the school at the bottom of our garden. We are totally overshadowed by a mature tree but the school won't do anything unless it's considered dangerous, as there's nothing in their budget. I have even contacted the legal and estates department at the HQ of the academy Trust. I've heard absolutely nothing from them.
I suppose that I will have to wait until the next major storm and it falls, obliterating my entire garden.

Their grounds? Boundary? Surely they have a responsibility to the community and neighbours like the rest of us do?

Sorry you're goi v through similar, I can't even hope for the same, if any of these come down they're taking my house with them!

Luckily I don't sleet in the back bedroom!

But like I say it's not actually the high trees that cause me the most problems it's the low level stuff and when I say low level I mean 8-12 foot - the solid wall of sampling's and brambles that have grown under the trees!

Hedges should be no higher than 2 metres.

What’s the actual problem with them? Do they compromise the access down the alleyway? Won’t this be fixed by a solid fence?

Thank you, the stuff about hedges is useful!

If they had cut all that down to the level of their new fence that would have been about 7ft! And would have maintained some level of privacy for the school and given me some light.

I guess there are several problems.

The trees that are 6 metres from my back door and taller than my house with branches that come over my garden block sun and rain from my garden - but I can live with those.

In between the tress have grown smaller trees bushes and brambles that have created a solid wall of greenery that is probably 5 metres high, no light gets through that at all - I may as well have a brick wall built there!

Maybe this photo shows it better, the photos of the trees don't seem to show how bad it is!!

I dont think it is that we cant see it. It is that there is a big dollop of your preference in here which doesn't give you a legal basis to challenge it.

I can't see the sky from my kitchen, in the summer not even a chink of light comes through the wall of green, it may as well be a brick wall, it's not at the end of a rambling garden, it's 6 metres, if that from the back of my house.

My frustration yesterday stemmed from the fact that our requests to thin it out have been rejected due to school budgets, lack of people to do the work etc, yesterday the people were there who could of done it but they wouldn't!

It is better, I've been out there this morning to put my bird feeders back up , it just could have been much better for no extra cost to the school.

And it isn't just me, the whole row of houses are emailing the school and the WhatsApp group was very busy yesterday, firstly with hope that the work was being done and then later with frustration that it hadn't.

I'll see if the headmaster gets back to me today, if I can get the lower level stuff cut to the height of their fence I will be happy.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/11491/319798.pdf

Ask the council Planning Department to take action under s215 - see above link

Great thank you.
The residents group have also recommended I try the Governor's - apparently there are community governors who may be able to help!

I feel better for a vent! Maybe I should have posted on AIBU - then you could have all told me I was! 🤣

Thanks for the suggestions from those that have been through similar! .

Legally you can cut back any overhang as long as you offer the branches to them but you dispose if they don't want them. This makes no difference whether you need a ladder or not. I don't think they are actually close enough to be a "not enough light issue".

Community governors are not there to assist the community. It means they are community members who have joined the board rather than being parent governors or staff governors.

I despair for the environment when a school having a block of trees at the back of their grounds is considered antisocial.
If they overhang you cut them back as you would with any other neighbours. It is your fault they have got this far over if you have been sat watching them all this time.

We've cut them back as high as we can - they are 20m to 30m high - mature Ash trees! 6m from my back door!

Do you not think if I could fucking cut them back I would!

Don't comment without reading the thread! I don't want them cut down, I want the border maintained, the trees looked after!

We cut them back several times a year as far back as we can and as high as I can - do you think I've sat on my arse & just watched them grow!

One of my neighbours further down has used some industrial weed killer that he got illegally to try and clear the lower level stuff and I will say again lower level is about 4 metres high - I haven't done that because I enjoy the birds & the squirrels - it's not fucking unreasonable to expect an establishment in a housing estate to maintain it's borders - what ever that establishment !!

And both those comments are to TeenyParent! No need to be so rude!

@SeasonFinale

Legally you can cut back any overhang as long as you offer the branches to them but you dispose if they don't want them. This makes no difference whether you need a ladder or not. I don't think they are actually close enough to be a "not enough light issue".

Community governors are not there to assist the community. It means they are community members who have joined the board rather than being parent governors or staff governors.

Thank you - I'll give it a go anyway - I guess the more people I try the better - before I move on to the Council.

@bloomingbtambles

And both those comments are to TeenyParent! No need to be so rude!

You know this is mumsnet no nethuns don’t you? As far as I’m aware we speak our minds here. If you don’t want to hear opinions other than your own don’t post asking others opinions. No need to call me rude for disagreeing with you.

We back on to a woods and so have trees right up to our back garden. It doesn't cause any problems though, and the garden and house aren't dark because of it.

What is the problem you are trying to solve by cutting back the lower levels of the trees?

If you went to the school with an explanation of how the trees are negatively affecting your lives they might be more helpful, rather than just a request to trim the trees.

I had a similar problem some years ago paid for workmen to cut trees and told the school prior to work.