A councillor has been given the runaround in his attempts to have an overgrown tree pruned.
Independent councillor Peter Atkinson was approached by residents in his North Portslade ward as it increasingly blocked out tenants’ light.
Councillor Atkinson spent an inordinate amount of time and effort trying to establish ownership and responsibility for a huge tree in College Close, off Chalky Road, in Mile Oak.
He said that the huge tree was completely blocking the light on the western side of the close from a streetlamp.
It left that side of the cul-de-sac in total darkness in the evenings and residents turned to Councillor Atkinson for help.
He said: “It’s been an extraordinary struggle but we have finally established that the tree is on council land, more specifically housing land.”
A number of different council departments said that it was not their responsibility to deal with the tree, not least because the housing department often contracts out tree care.
As a result, the problem could not be resolved with a straightforward request to the council’s arboriculture team.
Besides, the team is not always keen to cut back a healthy tree and sometimes they don’t have the capacity.
Councillor Atkinson said that he had contacted streetlighting, highways obstructions, arboriculture, housing and even the chief executive at one stage.”
He added: “I’ve now been told that there’s a council ‘troubleshooter’ type officer on the case so hopefully that will get us results.”
There is also two very overgrown trees in a very small area on Highlands Road Portslade and they are also reducing the light for tenants They have needed cutting down now for the past two years but the council have neglected doing anything about it I hope by writing this comment that someone will take action
Same in Hove, also hedges overgrown on to pavements making it difficult to navigate. B&H must be bring in a lot of money with the population growth, which has nearly doubled in 20 odd years? We get less and less for our council tax payments
We’ve been trying to get a tree pruned (because one side of the street’s phone and fibre lines are running directly through the branches) since September last year and despite numerous emails nothing has happened. Utterly useless clowncil
thats not something that means the tree requires pruning
“If a council-owned tree (such as one on a roadside verge or public land) has damaged your telephone line, the responsibility for trimming the tree lies with the local council.”