Alan,
I think you acted admirably and went well above and beyond what is expected
of you.
Had a very similar situation several years back and it all blew over after we
had done what was reasonable at the Council's expense. In that case the tree
owner also wanted the earth and blew the whole thing out of proportion.
Ron.
-----Original Message-----
From: Wallbank, Alan [mailto:Alan.Wallbank@xxxxxxxx.gov.uk]
Sent: Mon, 26 February 2007 15:52
To: UK Tree Care
Subject: Matching trees!
Another real-life scenario for peer review:
18th January severe storm, LA poplar fell over and, on its downward
trajectory, took out a third of the crown of a lime tree bounding a
private garden. Damage resulted in a primary branch tearing off and
leaving a section of stem near the spring of the crown with only about a
third of its wood intact.
The property is a large double-fronted Victorian house with a central
footpath. However it transpires that two houses are here, 3 and 5. I
was contacted by the owner of number 5 who asked about the condition of
the damaged tree, and I advised that it should be taken down and that I
was happy to foot the bill since our poplar had rendered it unsafe.
Eventually, rather than being felled, it was crown dismantled -
"pollarded", as a means of retaining some kind of tree there.
Then comes an angry phone call from the owner of number 3 lambasting me
for pollarding his lime tree. It turns out there's an invisible boundary
running up the central footpath and the tree was his all along; his dear
neighbours at number 5 had never bother to tell me this of course, and
I'm supposed to have psychically known the boundary line.
Angry tree-owner accepts that I acted in good faith, but is still
agrrieved at what he calls a "lack of consultation", despite the fact
that I consulted fully with the person who thought she owned the tree,
but is absolutely adamant that I should now pay for the pollarding of
his other lime tree, since he feels they were a matching pair and he's
been deprived of that symmetry by my falling poplar.
I've contended that this is not a fair request, saying that if I had
felled the damaged lime he would hardly have asked me to fell the good
one, too, but of course he counters that yes, of course he would, as he
wants to have matching trees, and could therefore have legitimately
asked me to contract felling the other so he could replant with
even-aged new stock.
I've stuck to the line that I did what was necessary to make a damaged
tree safe, have advised him I will pay for the tree to be removed and
ground out if it doesn't respond happily to the pollarding, but that I
don't think it's legally or morally incumbment on the authority to
pollard his other tree for aesthetic reasons. I don't think this is a
just use of my budget!
What do others think?
Alan
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