Springing to life

It’s that time of the year when the early bulbs are beginning to peep out of the ground and buds are appearing on shrubs and trees. It’s also a time to consider garden maintenance and as a considerate resident to look at cutting back any dead wood, pruning hedges and assessing the growth of any trees in your gardens.

As a Network Homes resident, if you have a private garden or terrace, you’re responsible for ensuring you maintain everything within it. We want to create communities which you’re proud to live in and which you foster a spirit of consideration and respect for one another. A frequent source of frustration from neighbours is poorly managed trees and hedges. Please use this time of the year to reduce the heights and size of trees where you can see it will impact on your neighbours.

Things you need to know

If you have not planted the tree yourself or you’re new to a property you should always check with your local authority to ensure:

• there is no planning requirement placed on the tree
• you’re not in a Conservation area or
• there is not a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) on your tree.

Carrying out works on any tree covered by any of these restrictions could result in fines or in more serious cases a criminal conviction. All you have to do is call your local authority to check these details prior to prevent this from happening. If there is a restriction in place it does not prevent you from maintaining the tree, however you will need to follow an application process. The local authority will provide you with advice and guidance on this.