A RESIDENT who says a protected oak tree is damaging roofs and gutters of neighbouring homes has been refused permission to cut it back.

Christopher Darkes said the lower branches on the oak at Birch Park in Coalway were likely to break, and twigs and leaves from the tree were having ‘a detrimental effect’ on his and neighbours’ homes.

He told Forest planners a tree surgeon had said the lower branches “came out of the trunk at a bad angle and are prone to break.”

“His suggestion was to take the bad angled branches off the trunk, stating it would be the five lowest branches and so raising the crown. This would benefit the tree and reduce the waste,” he said.

But Tree and Countryside officer Isla Townley said that would cause “a number of large wounds on the tree” changing its overall shape and character.

Forest planners rejected the application on the grounds that insufficient arboricultural information had been submitted to justify the tree work.