Conflict with neighbour over a tree

That sounds good then Petralava. Willows do indeed grow very fast, so I will forgive you !!

Nikki -
My willow was pollarded three times in the last 12 years - but as my landlord would never cough up for the 18 month interim trims, it ballooned in size in no time at all, at a guess I would say it grew 2-3 metres each year, (that's height AND width !!)
Please do not worry about the wee small animals. None ever nested in it (squirrels and such like) it waved around far too much in the wind, besides, I made the tree surgeon check before chopping. Plus, we are surrounded by mature sycamore trees - much preferred by the furry and feathered creatures - they wave a whole lot less.

Poor tree, poor wildlife that depended on the tree for their livelihood.

I always think it is far better to try and work around a problem that has been albeit rather thoughtlessly created, than to destroy it completely. You could have had the tree pollarded maybe?

Now I am with you all the way on Leylandii ... they are of absolutely no use whatsoever to man or beast, all they do is poison the soil and provide very little opportunity for birds to nest in. Having said that, every year there are a couple of wood pigeons that nest in the large Leylandii that is growing on the river bank outside my parents' kitchen window, but apart from them I have never found a nest in the horrible things!

My landlord has finally paid to have the 50ftx30ft willow in my 40ftx16ft garden hacked out, and I am so happy I can't tell you!
Yeah, I know it's bad for the tree to be gone, and truth be told, it was a rather nice tree. But as someone said previously - people should consider how big the tree/plant will be, before they plant it.
In a bigger garden, it would have been fine. It was the tennant previous to us who planted it. When we moved in 19 yrs ago - it was but a 15ft wispy thing, with lovely thin pointed leaves. Had we known then what it was, we'd have got rid of it ourselves.
But I can't reiterate enough, how bright my garden now is. The daylight that filters through my bathroom window is blissful. I can now use the entire length of my washing line. And come May, there'll be no catkins and fuzzy white seed things flying around, and in the winter, I won't be sweeping leaves constantly, or falling over fallen branches. Like I said BLISS. :)
My final thought . . . Leylandii should be banned - people seem to use them as weapons against poorer or more unfortunate neighbours. Hideous behaviour - you should know better.

I agree totally with Norman, as I would never plant anything close to any boundary, you would think that people would apply some common sense as to growth of plants when they positon them so as to avoid such conflicts from happening in the first place, yes I have an idiot over the back who has planted two conifers so close to the wire fence that I now have at least half of them growing into my property, she now owns her council house, I am still council, although I have complained and had the council take photographs of these two trees about over two years ago still nothing has been done and each year they are coming further and further into my garden, what do I do, if I touch them, I will be the bad one, if I dont do anything they will just take over, know what I would like to do, cut it all back and through it all over the fence to her, no doubt she would dub me the neighbour from hell though if I did!

How old is the tree Gary?

Oak trees are a natural species, are very slow growing and are much prized for the beautiful trees that they are. If the tree is of a good age, you might be able to get a preservation order on it. That takes time, but there will be some sort of temporary halt to the proceedings that you could obtain. I am not sure who you should contact, but I would guess your local council would be a start.

I only have 48 hours before my oak tree is cut to pieces by a neigbour at the bottom of my garden. Do I have any rights to stop this , I am a council tennant and have had the council round asking if I would pay half towards cost I said no. The only crime my tree has committed is to have loose branches fall off into my neighbours garden.

Why oh why do people plant young trees on the edge of their gardens when they must realise that some day they will grow and overhang the neighbours property. It happened to me and I just cut off what overhangs my garden.
When I planted a small Laburnum I planted it in the middle so it doesn't grow over the next door garden. Even my Leylandii hedge is planted in such a way that I can cut the side facing my neighbour without going into their garden. Of course most people are not as considerate as me.

I should just lob the thing down!!!!!! Plant lot's of Leylandis let them over grow then they will have something to moan about?

I believe you can legally cut down branches and return them to your neighbour if they overhang your boundary. I did this no problems to a neighbours tree as he was too busy. I found this page as I need to complain about my neighbours. I live in an ex council house, she rents, but I don't think this makes a difference to the tree issue.

I was shortening some overgrown laurels on my side (first chance I honestly had duw to personal stuff- legit too, not sob story), they must be about 9ft their side, I appreciated this would be a problem although they've never said anything. I was halfway through when I found a birds nest, with female blackbird in it, so I of course stopped. I planned to restart when they'd moved on. Today I found the neighbour cutting the laurels. I asked her to stop explained about the bird nest, she said fine. I went in, and heard her do it again. I went out several times, she ignored me. What would you guys do? I've contacted the housing team, the council and the rspb via email.

Why couldnt you just ask them first? Eventhough its your right to cut down branches etc. which overhang your property, it is still polite to pop over and say to them your intentions. It's not nice to have grown a lovely tree and then for a neighbour to begin hacking it down. It would look pretty stupid being a 1/2 tree anyway wouldnt it?!

I think if you'd just spoken to them about it then you could have come to an agreement nicely rather than cause the problem it is now.

Oops, Paragraph 5 should read as follows;

Like branches, you are at liberty to chop off any ROOTS which protrude past the boundary line and into your garden. You do not have to ask permission to do this. The conservative safe estimate for a willow tree from your house is 18m. Unless your garden is huge, I would guess the tree is within 18m of your foundations.