Thanks for your reply, I have emailed the council so will wait and see...

Yes you are doing the right thing writing to the council, but if the trees are on private land that they might say that they cannot get involved. If this is the case your mother might have to write to the owners of all the houses at the bottom of the private road, to make them aware of the situation. I suspect that the owners of these houses have joint responsibility for maintaining the trees and if they don't maintain them, your mum might be able to take legal action. The council even if they can't help, should provide your mum with some info regarding the situation.

Hello, I'm looking for some advice....

My mother's small back garden is dry as a bone, hardly any plants or grass will grow. This is because on the other side of her fence are several enormous trees squashed together, including leylandi, a massive cedar tree, an oak tree and a juvenile oak tree. The big oak tree and cedar tree have preservation orders on them. This land runs alongside a private road leading to some houses at the bottom, so these trees are in nobody's garden. The oak tree is growing right on the boundary line so that my mother's fence has fallen over and we're worried that her garden shed may be affected soon, and even the house's foundations. It's a massive job to clear up the leaves, acorns, fir cones, sticks, branches, bird poo that regularly fall into her garden. The cedar tree is so tall that in high winds it sways right over the house. Of course, the people who live in the houses at the bottom of the private road like the trees, but their gardens are all pristine with beautiful lawns, flowers, no leaves to clear up and no cracks appearing in their houses! We're not sure who the land actually belongs to.

I'm going to email the council to see if they have any advice, but I was wondering if anyone on here has any experience of this kind of problem.

Suggestions gratefully received....