Can't get anyone to cut back my trees

adocholiday

Hope this is an appropriate forum for this question. I have a bunch of trees along my boundary which is about 60m long and 5 feet above the road. The public road is immediately parallel to the boundary, and there is a fibre cable on my side and an electricity cable on the other. There are various trees on the boundary, a mix of young sycamore, willow and beech, as well as 2 150+ year old beech trees and a very mature horse chestnut all of which are 30-40 feet tall if not more.

For the past few years I've made various attempts to get someone out to fell the young trees as they're growing very tall and thin for the light, and to cut back or fell the mature ones depending on the need, but literally every tree company I contacted has either ghosted me or refused the job. I know it's going to be expensive, but for my own peace of mind I need it done. It's mainly because they're situated along a relatively busy country road and difficult to get at properly.

I know this is a long shot, but is there any other option available to me here? I can't just hire a cherry picker myself and ask one of the lads down the pub who is looking for a bit of firewood, it's a job for a proper company to manage, but I can't get a quote from anyone. At my wits end with it now and would really appreciate some advice. If it helps I'm between Arklow and Wicklow Town so that part of the world it's relevant for. Thanks.

Vittu

Get onto the local CoCo and say they are a hazard, might work.

adocholiday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121162562#Comment_121162562

I didn't even know that was an option, I didn't think they'd do tree services on a private house. I do genuinely feel they are a hazard so maybe they might agree with me. Thanks for the suggestion.

Vittu

If the trees are on the side of a public road they can be classified as a hazard to users of the road. Not saying they will definitely do it but worth a try. Older trees are more of a risk as they may be starting to rot. Ash die back around as well and this can cause branchs to die and fall off. If the CoCo feel they are a hazard they might have to deal with it.

adocholiday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121163501#Comment_121163501

I sent the enquiry to them anyway and they're going to send an engineer out for a look. Thanks for the advice very much appreciated, hopefully they'll tackle it for me.

Vittu

Best of luck.

AlanG

The ESB will cut back trees that are a risk to their lines. Have a look on their website.

adocholiday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121164637#Comment_121164637

Should have mentioned they did this for me last year but they did the bare minimum, literally just cut the branches that were immediately overhanging the wires. I get that they're not a tree cutting company but there are loads of branches over the wires again and the higher up ones they ignored the first time. The job at hand is much bigger than what they seem to be willing to do.

DJ98

Anyone any experience with a tree shears, would the be suitable for big awkward bushy road side trees?

The Nutty M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121166317#Comment_121166317

Yes. I have a Koala 400 which is more than capable of cutting small thin bunched up stuff.

Aidocholiday, look to a comtractor with a tree shears on a digger. If you have place to land the trees after they have been sheared in the field beside the road, then it should be a fairly easy job.

adocholiday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121164626#Comment_121164626

Bringing this up again as the council have come back to say they will only cut back trees that are an immediate danger, and only after engaging with the property owner to remedy the problem first. The council don't provide this service free of charge either, the property owner will be billed for the council's costs in the event that they have to intervene so it's a complete non-runner unfortunately. All they could do was acknowledge the problem and suggested closing the road to make it an easier job, but I don't think that's going to make the job any more attractive.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121172817#Comment_121172817

Thanks for your input on this. How might I go about finding such a contractor? Although I'm not sure that we'd have the space for a tractor with a shears on it to maneuver properly for this job.

The Nutty M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121223634#Comment_121223634

If you have a 60metre boundary that ishpuld be more than enough room to manoeuvre a digger and tree shears.

Is it a lawn or a field the is between you and the boundary? Getting someone with a shears should be easy enough. Some people advertising on done deal with diggers and tree shears. Where abouts are you roughly which may help ?

Good loser

Get in a digger 14 tonne or bigger. He will pull the smaller stuff to the ground. For the bigger trees if you keep asking around you will get someone to cut at base while digger puts the pull on.

farmerval

Try Dermot Casey Tree Care, they do this kind of stuff for the ESB, they should know what to do.

farmerval

Actually, you might be in bother with cutting in the bird nesting season. March to end of August. I "think" if a suitably qualified person, not sure arborist or ornithologist checks and confirms that there are no birds nesting you can then cut away at any time.

Specialist tree surgeon will know anyway.

Large bottle small glass

I have a small enough farm but with a lot of road frontage and with a lot of ESB & Telecom cables.

The advice I have from a very well regarded arborist is that liability from claims arising from falling trees is very much an issue for the landowner and not the road authority.

If the trees are in danger of falling then you need to act.

If the cables from the utility providers are preventing you from doing the work, especially the power cables, then that is your trump card.

I have the same problem but I have local ESB contacts and can get sorted.

You need to make noise such that these big semi state bodies listen. I would think a letter from your solicitor to the head of legal in ESB & Eir outlining your position and the presence of their cables preventing you from essential and life threatening maintenance.

Give them a deadline. Send repeat letters if they fail to respond. I'd be prepared to injunct if they failed to respond.

The cables are why contractors are ghosting you.

adocholiday

Thanks all for your comments. I made another attempt to try to get some contractors out just after Christmas and I only managed to get a single price which was far beyond even what I thought would be the highest end. Including road closure costs to the Council he wanted €10k for what he forecasted was 2 days work. I got the impression that it was one of those scenarios where he didn't want the job really but if he was getting crazy money for it he would take it. Despite my best efforts I wasn't able to get anyone with a shears either, there's one guy that does it around here but again with the road and cables it was too much hassle for him.

On a more positive note however I did get an arborist to have a look and he thinks the trees are pretty healthy and wasn't particularly concerned about any as an immediate risk other than the chestnut which he says has bleeding canker disease. He actually thought I'd do more harm by felling the others because the roots of the trees are tying the bank together and over time as the roots rot the bank might start to subside. Even worse, our house is so close to the bank that we might even risk damage to the foundations. His opinion was leave well enough alone for now. Doesn't make me feel much better about it though, it just muddies the water a bit more.

Just for reference anyway here's a picture of the site so you can see what we're dealing with. https://imgur.com/Tgb8BnP

Good loser

They're big enough.

See my post 13 above. I would have a go at them if I was you. A very good chainsaw man near Mitchelstown cut a whole series of such trees in Autumn. I am helping to cut into blocks currently. All done in a morning. If paid enough he might be induced to travel. Pay for accomodation over night if needed.

The digger would be local. Maybe a 20 tonne plus machine.

realdanbreen

I'm in a somewhat similar situation myself . But I'm just wondering if I get my trees cut down to 10ft or thereabouts is there some way of treating them so they won't grow back?