Kitchen Garden Forum

Good Morning!This is my first post so Im not sure if this question is in the right forum!Can anyone tell me how high conifers can get to before they cause trouble to other home owners.We have firs at the front of our house which must be 40ft high.They arent blocking our light but they look as if they dominate the whole area,Im sure I read somewhere that they have a legal height?We are having a go at growing our own veg this year,last year we just grew runner beans and tom's.Great fun so I think I will be back again for more advice!

I think there's a general rule that conifer (especially lleyandi) hedges should not grow above around 11 feet but trying to get these regulations enforced by local authorities is very difficult as they often won't intervene until all negotiations between neighbours/owners have become exhausted, and even then, the innocent party could end up having to pay the legal or other "administrative" fees for having them lopped. To my mind, the legislation which was enacted to prevent these problems was very poorly drafted which the offenders still not being properly held to account. When you read from time to time in the media about hedge wars which still break out, the legislators as usual, seem to have come down on the side of the offenders rather than the victims in my opinion.
Good luck with your veggie growing. Am sure that you will get lots of pleasure and satisfaction (as well as a few frustrations) out of it. There are plenty of people on here who'll be able to give you good advice.

Thanks Primrose!Like you,I have seen poor folks in the newspapers and yes they do have time /money wasted.Thats given me a guide line.Thanks for your good wishes.I cant wait to get started on growing veg etc. Im reading as much as I can before I start!Its snowing here(Leics)so we have just lit the fire,so it will be a feet up job with the seed brochures!

Hello Have"nt a clue,
Are your "Fir trees" free-standing trees or formed into a hedge? At 40ft high I guess that they are trees and that it may be that rules applied to hedges will not apply to them

i cant remember the exact details but the info can be found by a search on google or even your county council's website.
but basically if they arnt causing a problem to anyone else there is no requirement to top them. but check your house insurance for height and distance from house . if someone complains to the council about the height you can be compelled to cut them down to somewhere arround 2 to 3 metres, you are allowed time to do it, can do it in a couple of stages, not start during the bird nesting season ... ie you can string it out for a year or so ... but you need to check the exact details.
i think the complainer has to be able to argue that the trees are blocking their light or their view, or somehow interfeering with their enjoyment of their property.

Thanks Snooky and Richard,The conifers are all in a line to form a hedge either side of large metal gates ,in other words instead of a wall.We live on a complex .We live in the converted stables/barns at the back of an old hall.That now contains 8 apartments.The electric gates and the firs are infront of the old hall several hundred feet away so they dont block the light.The problem is that they sit on a private road and the trees dont belong to our complex!the owner ,I think will be ok about taking a bit of height out,when we ask them.We would'nt do it when any birds are nesting.They are all different sizes but vary between30/40+ ft.I think we would only take 5-8 ft off so we dont kill them.

Hello HAC
I think you need to be far more ruthless with these large trees. The trouble with most conifers is that when you top them they simple form several more growths just below the cut and these will carry on growing with increased vigour. You'll finish up in a few years with a top heavy misshapen trees. Also conifers like Leylandii, which is probably what your are, have shallow widespreading roots and in severe weather are quite likely to topple over if the soil is in poor condition.
At this height I would say its time to get rid of them as they will just keep growing and become truly unmanageable. If they are cut down to the ground they will not grow up again - the root will simply die.

John

Hi John!Not so straight forward as it seems.Yep,we would all love them down but the person who owns the trees wouldnt let us take them down,dont ask me why because the builder wanted to put a nice high wall either side of the gates,it would have made the development very smart and no maintenance.Ho Hum

with those circumstances, officialdom will do nothing. there are only three viable options,
leave them and see how tall they grow
complete clearance
chop off about 8 foot high and see if they survive to form a hedge that can be anually trimmed by a tractor mounted flail .

only one of which costs nothing in the short term