Maintenance

The Company employs independent contractors to carry out ongoing maintenance of green areas, trees, hedges and hard surfaces throughout the year. The Board relies on their expertise and where appropriate on advice from other professionals, eg: Association of British Insurers

On occasion, major projects have to be carried out which may impact on the peace and quiet on the estate. 
We will endeavour to keep this work as short as possible and try to give you advance notice.

The overview below only shows major planned works which may cause temporary disruption to nearby properties.

Please visit this site regularly to keep up to date with activities on your estate.

• A new bench installed on the main green

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Protecting your home from subsidence damage

The Association of British Insurers have produced a useful leaflet which gives advice on sensible precautions to help avoid the problem and the first steps to take if damage still occurs.  Download it here

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Typical safe distance to tree from building, outside which the tree is unlikely to affect the subsidence of the building

 

Tree Species	Mature Height (m)	Safe distance (m)
Apple	12	10
Ash	23	21
Beech	20	15
Birch	14	10
Cypress	25	20
Cherry	17	11
Damson	12	11
Elm	25	30
Hawthorn	10	12
Holly	14	6
Horse Chestnut	20	23
Laburnum	12	9
Laurel	8	6
Magnolia	9	5
Maple	21	20
Oak	24	30
Pear	12	10
Pine	29	8
Plane	30	22
Plum	12	11
Poplar	28	35
Rowan	12	11
Sycamore	24	17
Spruce	18	7
Walnut	18	14
Willow	24	40
Yew	12	5
Source: ABI

 

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Leylandii

Will this add up to peace over Leylandii?
`You need a degree in maths'
says Peter Markham

They have been dubbed the 'scourge of suburbia', towering Leylandii hedges which block out the light and are the root of rows between neighbours. Many cases even get as far as the courts -but that could all be about to end thanks to an equation devised by scientists. They came up with the mathematical formula to set a maximum reasonable height for the shrubs, which, growing at a rate of three feet a year, can easily reach 50ft. The equation is expected to form the basis of legislation by the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. Ministers hope it will help rowing neighbours sort out disputes between themselves. But some Leylandii protesters claim the formula, which replaces an earlier version published in June, is still too complicated - and feel they are being fobbed off by the Government. The move comes three years after the Daily Mail launched a campaign for action to control the shrub. Such is the animosity towards the conifer that a 4,000-strong pressure group, Hedgeline, was formed to draw attention to the menace, which can also cause subsidence and drainage problems. A Government agency was asked to come up with the formula after an official estimate put the number of problem hedges in Britain at 17,000. Told by ministers to make it easy to use, the BRE - formerly the Building Research Establishment came up with:

H = d/2 + 1

H is the acceptable height of the hedge, and d is the distance between the window of the complainant houseowner and the offending hedge. If the real height of the hedge is higher than the resulting H value, the shrubbery is too high. Dr Paul Littlefair, who led the BRE team, said: `We were asked how high a hedge had to be in order to be unreasonably significant in terms of blocking out light. Some of the calculations are based on work done for buildings, but there has also been a detailed period of consultation with people such as tree officers and hedge experts. Our aim is that householders will do the calculations and that's why it is important it is clear and easy to do. If it is a situation where people are having an amicable dispute such as one person thinks his neighbour's hedge is a bit too high and the other says he is willing to cut it down if it could be shown to be too high, then you could use the formula.' The DTLR guidelines say hedges higher than the acceptable height should be trimmed to below that height to allow for growth. The guidelines add: `For most hedge types, between 600mm and one metre below the acceptable hedge height would give a suitable margin for growth.' Whether this will provide a solution to the menace of hedge rage is another thing. Hedgeline founder Michael Jones, 73, said: `These things seem so simple yet a lot of our elderly members say it is too obtuse. We feel we are being fobbed off. ` It is a small step but the guidelines still allow very high hedges. They affect only the most extreme cases. `If the guidelines are allowed to become the basis of a new law, they will still allow bullying neighbours to intimidate those around them.' Chris Pagett, of the Association of British Conifer Growers, said: `You need a degree in maths to work out these guidelines. The Government has fudged it again.'
Daily Mail, 17 December 2001


Big, green and at the bottom of your garden
New anti-leylandii laws could have councils sharpening their saws,
says Penny Chorlton
​
Leylandii trees are notorious for their power to provoke homeowners to fits of garden rage. So legendary is their ability to wreak havoc in the neighbourhood that the self-help group, Hedgeline, recently persuaded the Government to announce that it was bringing forward legislation to put rampant hedges under the control of local authorities.

This has serious implications for people who own, live next door to, or are contemplating buying a house with a leylandii or other vigorous-growing hedges.

Leylandii are not something to be taken on by the faint-hearted gardener. Indeed, some experts think them beyond the capability of most ordinarypeople - so much so that they are banned on many modern developments with small gardens.

"The problem with leylandii is that people just don't realise how fast and how big they can grow, nor how much time and money it will cost to keep them under severe control," says David Swarbrick, a solicitor in Yorkshire who specialises in garden law. "They are not the worst tree you can have in the garden - beech, for example, has much more invasive roots, and bamboo, which is fashionable, can split concrete."

On its own, in the right setting, the leylandii can be a splendid tree. In exposed gardens, in open country, or by the windy coast, it scores top marks in most books on trees and shrubs. It has the capacity to absorb air and noise pollution.

It even has its plus points in the garden. Its roots, for example, do not go deep. "On poorly drained clay soils, in areas with moderate or high rainfall, all the roots of a large tree may be in the upper foot or less," says Clare Hinchliffe, of Hedgeline.

"Leylandii roots can cause trouble in drains or block gutters if they are too close to buildings, but they are not as bad as a normal tree because their roots are relatively shallow," says Roy McClure, a surveyor based in Richmond, Surrey.

Most estate agents agree that leylandii up to 10ft are acceptable but anything larger gets tricky. Felicity Chetwood, a senior negotiator with Hamptons International, says that high hedges can deter would-be buyers, especially older people.

"They go away and tot up the cost of maintenance or removal, then back off. These hedges are invaluable if your house is next to a motorway, main road or an eyesore of some sort. But if we were marketing a house that had hedges in excess of 20ft, we would advise cutting them back, since it would make a big difference to our ability to sell it."

Recent Government estimates suggest there could be 17,000 "problem" hedges in England and Wales. So what does it mean if you do buy a home that has a leylandii in the garden or a neighbour's? The cost of maintenance will depend on how much you are able to do yourself. If bonfires are banned, disposal could be tiresome and you may need to invest in a trailer.

Paying someone else could be expensive - the trees need trimming at least every other month. "In the long term, it could be cheaper to remove the hedge than maintain it," says Mr Swarbrick. "There are more satisfying things to do in a garden than battle with enormous hedges.

It is sensible to take control of your hedge before it is brought to the attention of the local authority, especially if the law changes next year. A nominal charge of £100 is proposed 'or hedge "victims" seeking third party help. This will not be passed on to the owner of the hedge.

However, if advice is issued to prune and no action is taken, the council's chainsaws may be brought in and the hedge-owner would then receive the bill.

No fixed limit on height is envisaged but proximity to neighbours will be a factor. And having your leylandii brutally cut back is not a pretty sight, according to Alan Toogood, a hedge expert. "If you prune back hard, the old wood will not produce new growth. If trees are lopped, the result is not very attractive."

Whether you are an owner or a neighbour of a high hedge, avoid lawyers if you can. Contrary to popular belief, there is no longer even a clear "right to light". The courts have rarely settled hedge disputes and rulings invariably inflame passions further.

One man built a second hedge inside the "offending" hedge, which was there to replace it when he was eventually ordered to take down the first. Many have impoverished themselves fighting hopeless cases and rendered their homes unsellable because of boundary disputes. In Wales last year, one man even shot his neighbour dead over an offending hedge. No hedge is worth that.

Hedge Tips

If your property has a leylandii, Lawson cypress or Western red cedar hedge on its borders, find out who owns it and who should maintain it.

• If you are buying such a property, visit the neighbouring owners and ask what their pruning programme is. If they look blank, you may end up with problems.
• Buy a hormonal, growth retardant from your garden centre. Don't feed or water leylandii - it will grow vigorously enough without help.
• For advice on lopping, removal or quotes on maintenance, the Arboricultural Association has a list of tree surgeons. Call 01794 368717 or visit the website: www.trees.org.uk
• If you have reached an impasse with a neighbour, contact Mediation UK. It will put you in touch with a local service that offers cheap, speedy and informal suggestions on how to find a compromise, instead of resorting to lawyers. The only big problem is that both parties have to want to go down this route. For more details of the service, phone 0117 904 6661.
• If things get really rough, contact Hedgeline on 024 763 88822.

'The new legislation has serious implications for people who own, live next door to or are contemplating buying a house with leylandii'
The Daily Telegraph, 7 October 2000