87 Greenwood Road, Hackney, London, E8 1NT
We are notifying you of our proposed works to fell seven sycamore trees that have self-seeded from the railway embankment into our garden - T1 - T7 on the attached sketch plan. We are not proposing works to T8 - T10. We purchased the property from Clarion Housing Association. Clarion undertook no noticeable upkeep of the garden - it was full of rubbish, glass and drugs paraphernalia, and completely overgrown. There was nothing to stop the large, mature sycamore trees that line the railway embankment on the south side of the garden from selfseeding into the garden of 87 Greenwood Road. These self-seeded sycamore trees have now matured to be circa. 20 feet high and are completely clad in ivy. We wish to fell these trees: 1) Safety: when clearing the garden in August 2023 one of the trees fell down. The extent of the ivy on the remaining trees makes it impossible to tell if any of them are dead or structurally unsound. It is clear from the photographs that at least some of the large branches are dead. We have three young children and it is vital that we do not have trees in our garden that put them at risk. This is of particular concern given that the prevailing wind comes from a south westerly direction. 2) Amenity: the combination of the size of the trees, their number and distribution, and the extent of the ivy, means that they deprive our garden and our neighbours’ garden of almost all available sunlight; they line the south-facing boundary. They would prevent us from being able to grow grass and many other plants and trees. Our neighbours at number 89 Greenwood Road have direct experience of this and are very supportive of our plan to remove the trees. 3) No appreciable public amenity value: these sycamore trees are not visible to the public from the railway bridge. The only place they are visible from is the neighbours' garden in number 89 and 91, and the house at number 85 on the opposite side of the railway line. As above, our neighbours at number 89 actively wish for these trees to be removed. Neighbours at number 91 can see the trees from their garden but they have no impact on their use of space, or their access to light. From the other side of the railway line, the sycamores in question are almost entirely masked by the much larger mature sycamores that line the Network Rail embankment. There would therefore be almost no visible change to the boundary if we remove the self-seeded sycamores on our land, because the cover from the Network Rail sycamores would remain. The boundary to the west of the property is a high brick wall with no windows, therefore there are no sight lines to the trees from that boundary. Our intention is to landscape the garden and plant a minimum of seven (and likely significantly more) replacement specimens along the boundary, together with more tree specimens elsewhere in the garden. We would select these specimens from a range more appropriate for a residential garden than sycamores.