Grrrr............

About six weeks ago I applied to the council for a large Wellingtonia in the corner of my garden to be felled. Today the answer came. I could tell just by the length of it what the answer was going to be ---NO, NO, NO. My reason for wanting it down is its close proximity to dwellings. Less than 10 metres from one neighbour with branches overhanging her shed and car parking space. Only slightly more from another neighbour and ourselves. According to the council tree man "... it adds greatly to character and visual amenity value of the area". Well to the green activists up from a far, far, distant big city that may well be true. These are the people who want pylons to be invisible, bats to have the run of the best houses, a newt to put a bar on building for miles around. The great unwashed scum with hoods, sticks, and missiles who plague G2o meetings and think their benefits fall like the gentle rain rain from heaven.
I rang the tree man and had a fairly constructive conversation so I am going to apply for lopping and pruning. Some branches have large lateral splits which need attention. His letter says such an application would be looked on more favourably and on the 'phone he said he would try to cut down the normal 6 weeks. I asked about appeal procedures and he was very helpful there so I shall be doing that. I re-iterated that the tree impinged on my neighbours more than myself - one is very "houseproud" but has a constant rain of small stuff falling in his garden which no amount of pruning will solve. No point in mentioning that in the age of the "Big Society" we should all be watching out for each other.
Watch out for another rant in perhaps 6 weeks.