Trees - plan attached!

[Mistymornin]

I know you like a plan so I have attached!

At the back if our garden there is an alleyway which belongs (as far as I am aware) to the houses as shown at the top of plan. They have access from the road. There are two very tall trees (50+ ft) very need to our fences growing in the alleyway (the blobby bits) and every year us and neighbours spend weeks clearing the leaves, branches which fall into our gardens. The trees do not affect their gardens as they have their garages - out of sight out of mind! The alleyway is about 20/25 ft wide and it is used as a dumping ground by the owners. Full of brambles, etc, the foxes have also set up home there. What are our options regarding the trimming of these trees? Could I get the council to come and have a look?

I have looked at our deeds, our land is only up to our fences. Our gardens are wider at the back as we live on a bend in the road

Have you asked the house owners? I doubt the council will do anything about this, especially as the trees are not near to your house and so unlikely to cause subsidence.

You can trim any branches which overhang your property, however, you should put these back over the fence.

Go and knock on one of the doors and ask if they do own the alley and the trees. They might just have right of way to their garages and have nothing to do with the trees at all.
Actually any trimmings you are supposed to offer back, not just Chuck over the fence, or it can be classed as fly tipping!

You can trim anything up to your boundary, and no further.

You don't just put trimmings back over the fence, you have to offer it back to the owners. If they don't want it, you have to dispose of it yourself. Just putting it on their land is flytipping.

You can find out if your assumption that the alley is owned by the people with houses behind it, by downloading their deeds. From HMLR.

You can cut anything overhanging your property.
Legally, you should OFFER the cut branches to the owner of the tree.
Just dumping them on their property is legally fly tipping.

Thank you for your replies, I will approach them after Christmas.

I have a similar situation to yours with an alleyway at the back of my house but there are no trees, just brambles, etc. I contacted the council a few years ago and they informed me the alleyway was not in their ownership. For your information, but before carrying out any work on the trees, your first point of contact should be the council as you will need to check if the trees have a Tree Preservation Order. Unauthorised works to a tree subject of a TPO is a criminal offence.

@MG1412 I will check the TPO listing, thank you.