The Boiling Frog: The Tree, The Council and The Street Lamp

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

The Tree, The Council and The Street Lamp

Regular readers may remember a blog post from late 2011 regarding a street lamp outside my house and a tree that has grown to such an extent it was blocking light and maintenance access. The council at the time, citing the Highways Act 1980, gave me 14 days to complete the work or they would do it themselves and seek to recover the costs.

One small problem the tree and the lamp post is on land which is not mine, so I’m not liable. This was pointed out to them at the time which had a confirmation reply that my response was noted and recorded.

2 ½ years later the tree remains untouched. Funnily enough when they thought it grew on my land it was urgent yet when it turns out to be their problem it was less urgent.

And so the lack of pruning of the tree has resulted in another letter to me from my local council, virtually identical in wording to the original, that as a result of a maintenance inspection (nice to know they happen on such a regular occasion) I need to carry out the work in 14 days “or else”. My original email been lost then?

Just to "help me on my way" I have been given a sheet of illustrations that demonstrate the "council requirements for trimming trees around S/L columns - scanned below (click to enlarge):

Apparently they require that:

Clearance to be sufficient to be effective for at least 12 months but preferably as a long term solution

I'm not sure how they would know it was effective for at least 12 months given inspections seemingly happen only every 2 ½ years. Clearly then what apparently applies to me does not apply to the Council (the tree is on Highway Agency property). They admit themselves the current situation is contrary to the Highways Act so that then applies to them as well.

One is now having mischievous thoughts...

13 comments:

john in cheshire25 March 2014 at 12:32
Turnover of personnel in the department must be about 2 1/2 years. New automaton taken over and hasn't a clue about, well I suspect, anything to do with their role as public servant.
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Woodsy4225 March 2014 at 12:44
You could try fencing the land on the basis the council claim you own it? You would have to prune the tree but it might be worth it. Then you could also claim some leeway payments for the lamp post that was placed on your land without approval.
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James Higham25 March 2014 at 14:56
And so the lack of pruning of the tree has resulted in another letter to me from my local council

John in Cheshire probably had it.
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Edward Spalton25 March 2014 at 16:13
The council did a similar thing with our business. They were leaning on us very hard with environmental charges ( which they later withdrew). The surrounding area mostly belonged to a property company and was " ripe for development" . A councillor worked for the firm. Amongst other complaints they said we had an unsafe chimney which required immediate attention. We pointed out that the chimney was not part of our property. It was unrepaired and untouched fifteen years later when we sold the site.
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Jim25 March 2014 at 17:02
I know what i would like to do which involve both the councillor and the street lamp. but maybe i should keep that to myself.
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William Gruff26 March 2014 at 04:19
Is it too obvious to say: ignore the demands, leave the council to bring the matter to court and then eschew all responsibility? It's not that easy, is it?
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Anonymous26 March 2014 at 10:39
I agree with the previous comment... Ignore it, then the Council will spend the money to do the job thinking they can recover it from you, then point out your previous correspondence and their reply.

Job done.
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Jack Savage26 March 2014 at 10:49
Send a letter to the Council claiming the lamp post is interfering with your tree.
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Anonymous29 March 2014 at 18:37
Can't help thinking that if you hadn't emailed them they would have done the work, billed you, then when you didn't pay, would have sent in those ever so friendly bailiffs/debt collectors, had your credit standing demolished and would generally have been held up as a pariah of the community to show that Yes local government does work!
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(Then UK Europe Minister, Denis MacShane, 2003)

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(Former Lib Dem leader, Charles Kennedy, 2002)

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"Taking part in EMU would improve policy and performance enough to eliminate many of the strains that sceptics predict would emerge without the safety valve of devaluation".
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"The euro is like a breastplate that will become more and more resistant. The stability of the currencies within its area is without question".
(Then EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Yves Thibault de Silguy, 1998)

"The strict rules attached to the euro could emerge as one of the best ways to persuade the markets that we will put Humpty Dumpty back together again, put the public finances in order".
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"The question of entering the euro is worth a lot more to Britain than the wild anti-federalist fantasies peddled by those who think Britain should have nothing to do with Europe. Nobody of any consequence in Europe wants to create a federal super-state".
(Former Business Secretary, Lord Peter Mandelson, 2003)

The British Government Knew The Consequences In 1971

Foreign and Commonwealth Office 30/1048 - 1971

...the transfer of major executive responsibilities to the bureaucratic Commission in Brussels will exacerbate popular feeling of alienation from government. To counter this feeling, strengthened local and regional democratic processes within the member states and effective Community regional economic and social policies will be essential.

Parliamentary sovereignty will be affected as we have seen. But the need for Parliament to play an increasing (if perhaps more specialised) role may develop. Firstly, although a European Parliament might in the longest term become an effective, directly elected democratic check upon the bureaucracy, this will not be for a long time, and certainly not in the decade to come. In the interval, to minimise the loss of democratic control it will be important that the British Parliamentarians should play an effective role both through the British membership in the European Parliament and through the processes of the British Parliament itself.

Test

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

The Tree, The Council and The Street Lamp

13 comments:

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