Video shows tree crashed into South Yorkshire house, where homeowner warned council 'for years' over danger

John Madden, 70, was out of town when his neighbour called to say the towering beech had been brought plummeting to earth during Storm Eunice on February 18, hitting his property in Anston, Rotherham.

As it fell, it smashed a hole through his ceiling in his back room, crushed a memorial to his late wife Ann he grew his garden and has come to rest lodged between his and his neighbour’s detached house, which has also been damaged.

John said: “I’m so absolutely stressed out. I’ve been up until 3.30am some nights thinking about it, and the danger the other tress behind the house might be.

"It’s damaged this memorial I made for my wife. That hurt a lot.”

To add insult to injury, John claims he and his neighbours have spent years warning Rotherham Council that the woodlands behind Netherthorpe Way posed a danger.

The 100-year-old plantation became the responsibility of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council in 1965.

A number of trees were felled in 2017 after 84 neighbours signed a petition calling for the council to reduce the height of trees before they fell on houses.

However, parish councillor Ben Bentley says the works did not go far enough.

He said: “All the remaining beech trees are now in excess of 20m and those that have reached maturity in excess of 25m.

"This puts over 90 per cent of the dwellings in reach of severe structural damage and possible loss of life should windthrow cause their collapse.

“The situation grows more difficult for residents day by day. This has been more evident during storms Dudley and Eunice when I have visited house’s damaged due to tree collapse as well as elderly residents who are quite rightly angry at RMBC inability to deal with what must now be a simple solution.”

John is still waiting for council contractors to remove the enormous beech from his garden.

However, he says a team from Thrybergh Country Park kindly came out to cut away the obstructive canopy from the trunk of the tree so he could get out of his house more easily.

John said: “My daughter Claire who lives with me is so upset about it, she was in the house when it felll.

"I’m having trouble with the insurers, and the contractors are meant to be coming next week to remove it, but I just want my house and garden back and to go back to the way things were. It’s so stressful.”

Rotherham Council’s acting assistant director of culture Leanne Buchan said: “We sympathise with those affected and are relieved to hear that no injuries were reported due to this incident.

"Although the Council has previously been made aware of concerns regarding the trees within this area, upon the last inspection they were found to be in good health with a low risk of collapsing.

"The extreme weather conditions [of last week] led to healthy trees falling, localised flooding and other substantial damage across the borough and throughout the country.”

John told The Star he thought the council’s response was ‘a non-statement’.