Wrong tree in wrong place

I have also nothing but sympathy for the good folk of Rustlings Road who have been treated badly with all the political nonsense foisted on them by the Council/Amey.

However, on the other side of the coin are householders like me who have had to suffer the consequences of the wrong trees in the wrong places.

As I had a full-grown sycamore with a height of 30ft and a trunk diameter of about 3ft growing in a normal width footpath outside my house the disadvantages far outweighed any possible advantages.

Problems caused by the tree:

n Roots invading the cellar.

n Blocking of light, meaniing the lights have to go on earlier than usual.

n The shallow tap root growing across the footpath caused the Tarmac to be raised so much that the local kids were using it to get airborn on skateboards (several failed the landing test!)

n Having to park under the tree made me well aware of the life cycle of the sycamore – from spring – leaf bud covers, unset flowers, greenfly, honeydew, (the worst after it had rained) , occasional ladybird swarms, falling leaves, spinner seeds in autumn.

n Bird strikes the size of dinner plates from the oversized wood pigeons that roosted in the tree.

After 25 years of trying to get the council to take the tree out they finally came and “scarified” the shallow tap root out and patched the pavement. As the tree had grown with a slight lean towards the road this became more pronounced as the tree did it’s “breaking up of wind tunnel effect” during winter.

It was clear to me the tree was going to fall over if not taken down, and it would have landed on the houses across the road.

About this time a tree had collapsed in Nether Edge causing significant damage to the house it had landed on.

When I again rang the council about who would be liable for the damage to the properties across the road if “our” tree fell they said the housholders across the road would be covered by the insurance, the householders’ insurance!

When I said we would club together with neighbours and have the tree taken down privately they said we couldn’t do that because it was against the law.

How do you reconcile that as a resident?

You cannot!

The tree was taken down by Amey.

When the inspector from Amey saw our tree he said the amount of lean would mean that the tree would be the first one done on our street for fear of it falling over.

Gladly, I can now wash my car as often as other motorists who don’t have a tree problem.

The right tree in the right place is undoubtedly an asset, the wrong tree in the wrong place is going to be a problem sooner or later.

AT

Woodseats