My thanks to Cllr Laws,
I too have been involved on & off for many years and getting nowhere….
The ‘Tree’ in question has a TPO (Tree Preservation Order) on it.
It is on private land and its ownership is within that private land.
Below explains…..
Sorry for being late to the party, I have read through the comments and I have to advise that whilst there is clearly an issue with the effect of the tree on the local residents, there are no powers within the remit of the Local Planning Authority to compel the owner of the tree to carry out any maintenance or work to the tree. Any proposed works to the tree would require consent from the LPA which would necessitate the submission of an application to carry out the works, which would have to be supported by an arboricultural report and even then, there would still be no guarantee that the proposed works would be supported. You will appreciate that in such circumstances officers should remain impartial and as such it would be inappropriate for officers to seek that the owner of the tree takes steps to remedy the neighbour’s concerns.
The local residents could seek to submit their own application to carry out works to the tree, but even where consent is granted, consent from the owner would still need be sought to permit the works to go ahead.
Unauthorised works to the TPO’d tree would be an offence which would potentially carry with it the possibility of a substantial fine.
I’m sorry that we cannot be of much assistance with this matter.
Kind Regards.
Andrew
Andrew Dudley
Planning Enforcement Team Leader
Fenland District Council
