Neighbour cut down trees and sprayed

Barney224

Looking for some advice. I live on a small housing estate. There is a green across from us and backing onto the green are gardens from other houses that were there years before the estate was built.

A few months back myself and my neighbour decided to plant a few sapling trees on our green near to the neighbouring gardens. But a week later we noticed that the trees were pulled up and chopped up. Also, there was a big patch of grass that was sprayed with weed killer where the trees used to be.

I don't have full proof, but am 99.9% sure it was the guy in the house whose garden backs onto our green. I noticed him walking onto our green through a gap in his fence a few times since, looking around to see if anything else was planted.

I assume what he did was not legal, and we have a right to plant trees on our green? Or would we need any planning permissions to plant? We've been on the estate over 10 years now and look after the greens so would have thought we could plant what we liked?

BryanF

So you planted trees on public land ? And someone else vandalized those trees?

Would you be best to plant trees on your land? Where no one should trespass?

If you wanted to plant trees outside of your boundary, assuming it’s public land in council ownership, start by talking to the council parks Dept.

listermint

Did you plant Trees on an area of land you dont own backing on to this mans house which most likely would result in him losing sunlight in his garden when trees mature ?

Calahonda52

This could turn into a right Barney:D
In any event as well as the last two posts the post heading is misleading.
Neighbour cut down trees and sprayed
vs
I don't have full proof, but am 99.9%

NewClareman

BryanF wrote: »

So you planted trees on public land ? And someone else vandalized those trees?

Would you be best to plant trees on your land? Where no one should trespass?

If you wanted to plant trees outside of your boundary, assuming it’s public land in council ownership, start by talking to the council parks Dept.

Involving the council parks department is advice I wish I’d gotten, many years ago. The green area of a neighbouring estate backs onto my garden. The residents association planted trees outside my wall. The residents don’t manage them and they’re now becoming a problem, height wise. The council don’t want to know, as they didn’t plant them.

If I were now the “guy in the house” I’d want to know the type of tree planted, how high it could potentially grow, and who was responsible for maintaining them.

Barney224

Wow!, I was only just loooking for some advice. If we've done something wrong, so be it!

We look after our green, meaning we organise grass cutting every few weeks, paid for by the neighbours. So if it's council owned, should they not maintain our greens?

We've planted other trees on the green, not near his site. The trees we planted were small anyway - Rowans. The guy could have easily asked around and expressed his concerns before just cutting them down! Also, he has no right to spray our green!

The guy has a huge ugly shed, so that's why we wanted the trees in the first place. They were not going to interfere with his sunlight.

Seth Brundle

Barney224 wrote: »

I don't have full proof, but am 99.9% sure it was the guy in the house whose garden backs onto our green. I noticed him walking onto our green through a gap in his fence a few times since, looking around to see if anything else was planted.

Out of curiosity, do you have any proof at all or just a suspicion because you saw him out walking on the green?

Barney224

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Out of curiosity, do you have any proof at all or just a suspicion because you saw him out walking on the green?

Look, I'm not here to argue if it was him or not, but I, along with most neighbours suspect him. So, let's just say it was definitely him for the sake of the argument.

My original quesiton was, does he have a right to go onto our green and pull up trees and spray roundup on the grass? Should he not have consulted with us first? Is this not the same as me hopping over my neighbour's wall and ripping up trees becuase I think they might block my sunlight?

irelandrover

Barney224 wrote: »

Wow!, I was only just loooking for some advice. If we've done something wrong, so be it!

We look after our green, meaning we organise grass cutting every few weeks, paid for by the neighbours. So if it's council owned, should they not maintain our greens?

We've planted other trees on the green, not near his site. The trees we planted were small anyway - Rowans. The guy could have easily asked around and expressed his concerns before just cutting them down! Also, he has no right to spray our green!

The guy has a huge ugly shed, so that's why we wanted the trees in the first place. They were not going to interfere with his sunlight.

What makes it your green more than his green? And you could have been polite and informed him before planting the trees to avoid this type of situation.

Doop

This sounds like your green is not taken in charge by the council (ie not council property) as you mention the residents pay for grass cutting. Is there a management company etc? who looks after street lighting etc?

You dont need planning permission to plant a tree like you ask, but ownership of the land is relevant. If the neighbour you mention did do what you say then it is trespass / vandalism, but as you say you have no proof. Maybe have a sign put up saying 'cctv in operation' to deter further action? But again you need to know who owns and runs this common area before sticking up signs. Personally I would speak to all the other residents in your estate and maybe set up a residents committee and tackle the issue of improving the landscaping as a community ... power in numbers and all that.

Gluck and fair play for trying to improve your local area... We need people were like that!

Fann Linn

Our estate is taken in charge but we still pay a lad to cut the grass areas. I think the days of local authorities cutting greens are dying out.

Alias G

Fann Linn wrote: »

Our estate is taken in charge but we still pay a lad to cut the grass areas. I think the days of local authorities cutting greens are dying out.

The days of council responsibility for public lands are not dying out. In many cases grass is deliberately left uncut to increase urban biodiversity and you should preferably not be employing someone to tend it. I personally don't get the obsession with excessively manicured lawns.

GinSoaked

Alias G wrote: »

The days of council responsibility for public lands are not dying out. In many cases grass is deliberately left uncut to increase urban biodiversity and you should preferably not be employing someone to tend it. I personally don't get the obsession with excessively manicured lawns.

Excuses Excuses Excuses. The council managers don't even have the IQ to understand biodiversity but its a good excuse.

tom1ie

Alias G wrote: »

The days of council responsibility for public lands are not dying out. In many cases grass is deliberately left uncut to increase urban biodiversity and you should preferably not be employing someone to tend it. I personally don't get the obsession with excessively manicured lawns.

Council cuts the grass on the green across from my house. I wish they didn’t as it would increase biodiversity.

Feisar

Alias G wrote: »

The days of council responsibility for public lands are not dying out. In many cases grass is deliberately left uncut to increase urban biodiversity and you should preferably not be employing someone to tend it. I personally don't get the obsession with excessively manicured lawns.

Kinda handy for young lads to kick a ball on in fairness.

Seve OB

Barney224 wrote: »

My original quesiton was, does he have a right to go onto our green and pull up trees and spray roundup on the grass?

i'll rephrase your question for you.

Did you have a right to go onto his green and plant trees without first consulting him?

greenttc

Threads like these are so frustrating. The OP could just have easily been about a man who owns a house that backs onto a public field and he cut down trees in the filed that other people planted which the OP felt would imact on his property somehow and therefore his action was justified. and i bet ya all the responses on this thread would have attacked this fictional OP too about how you cant just do that and the tree planters are well within their rights blah blah blah.

I dont have an answer for you OP (real OP), I understand both sides of this story but I dont know what can be done and by the sounds of it no one else so far knows either. Many people on boards just like to post about how wrong people are without giving a balanced view. I can imagine how frustrated the OP is.

Alias G

GinSoaked wrote: »

Excuses Excuses Excuses. The council managers don't even have the IQ to understand biodiversity but its a good excuse.

You may well have a point regarding council managers. But that doesn't negate the point in allowing some wilderness to develop in urban areas. And the logic of which is advocated by experts in biodiversity. The councils are simply responding to sound advice.

Alias G

Feisar wrote: »

Kinda handy for young lads to kick a ball on in fairness.

True and it doesn't have to be a case of 100% wild or 100% manicured.

GinSoaked

Alias G wrote: »

You may well have a point regarding council managers. But that doesn't negate the point in allowing some wilderness to develop in urban areas. And the logic of is advocated by experts in biodiversity. The councils are simply responding to sound advice.

There are ways of increasing biodiversity. The problem is that no maintenance isn't the best way. Occasional rough cutting and leaving the sward to rot down is far from ideal. Ideally some areas would be left till August and cut with all the crop taken away but councils won't do that. They hear the bit about no cutting but don't want to hear about anything that does incur a cost.

Alias G

GinSoaked wrote: »

There are ways of increasing biodiversity. The problem is that no maintenance isn't the best way. Occasional rough cutting and leaving the sward to rot down is far from ideal. Ideally some areas would be left till August and cut with all the crop taken away but councils won't do that. They hear the bit about no cutting but don't want to hear about anything that does incur a cost.

Again, you have the ghost of a point. The council may not be taking an optimal approach. Indeed, they may not have funds to do so. But it is still a superior approach to one of incessant maintenance.

Barney224

Seve OB wrote: »

i'll rephrase your question for you.

Did you have a right to go onto his green and plant trees without first consulting him?

It's not HIS green! His garden backs onto our green. He has a big gap in his fence and walks direclty onto our green. He has his own green area at the front of his house.

Dudda

In an attempt to get this back on topic and away from how short someone should cut grass...

Barney224 wrote: »

It's not HIS green! His garden backs onto our green. He has a big gap in his fence and walks direclty onto our green. He has his own green area at the front of his house.

The first thing you need to do is find out exactly who owns this green area. Is it in council ownership do you know. Its obvious the neighbour who pulled up the trees doesn't own it and I know the community cut and maintain it but who actually owns it?

One way could be to check the land registry website https://www.landdirect.ie/pramap/ and see if it's registered. If it is on that you can pay €5 for a copy of the folio which will tell you who owns it and when it was transferred to them. This is the easiest first step. Report back and we'll go from there depending on what you find.

Barney224

Dudda wrote: »

In an attempt to get this back on topic and away from how short someone should cut grass...



The first thing you need to do is find out exactly who owns this green area. Is it in council ownership do you know. Its obvious the neighbour who pulled up the trees doesn't own it and I know the community cut and maintain it but who actually owns it?

One way could be to check the land registry website https://www.landdirect.ie/pramap/ and see if it's registered. If it is on that you can pay €5 for a copy of the folio which will tell you who owns it and when it was transferred to them. This is the easiest first step. Report back and we'll go from there depending on what you find.

Thanks Dudda. Much appreciated. I'll check that out.

ZeroThreat

Just as an aside, does anyone here feel that a general hostility to trees is embedded in the Irish psyche?

mordeith

ZeroThreat wrote: »

Just as an aside, does anyone here feel that a general hostility to trees is embedded in the Irish psyche?

If it's not a redundant patch of over manicured grass most people think it's gone 'wild' and should be concreted over.

GinSoaked

ZeroThreat wrote: »

Just as an aside, does anyone here feel that a general hostility to trees is embedded in the Irish psyche?

Would seem that way from many threads I've read here. A lot of chop it down its blocking my light might damage my house stuff.

randomguy

1. Legally - If the green is owned by management company, then you should have gotten permission of management company. If taken in charge by Council, you should not have planted them. If ownership is in a grey area, you probably should not have planted them without the agreement of the other residents of your estate. He has no say in you planting them. At most, in a few years, he could cut back whatever overhangs his property.

2. Morally - you should not plant them unless you are willing to take responsibility for them (pruning, liability if accident etc).

3. Legally, he should not have destroyed them, as they are not on his land. It may technically have been criminal damage but no guard would want to know. Morally, ditto.

4. If you want to take a long term approach, you have to get the owner of the land on side, and perhaps try to get this neighbour onside too (if there is any reality to that). He has no "right to light" or right to stop you growing trees, but a conversation about suitable trees (and the implied threat of tall, bushy, unsuitable ones) might make him see sense.

Calahonda52

ZeroThreat wrote: »

Just as an aside, does anyone here feel that a general hostility to trees is embedded in the Irish psyche?

It stems from 800 years ( +/-) of English tyranny where trees were used to hang the natives

Seth Brundle

Barney224 wrote: »

It's not HIS green! His garden backs onto our green. He has a big gap in his fence and walks direclty onto our green. He has his own green area at the front of his house.

It's not YOUR green either!

A2LUE42

OP, What types of trees did ye plant and what distance from his wall were they planted. Also what distance was between the trees planted?