A primary school teacher has been refused permission to prune a giant 72ft tree, which towers over her home garden
When the tree doubled in size, with the potential to crush her and her neighbours ' homes, Celia Senior, 57, applied for permission to trim the overgrown lime tree.
It's protected by a tree preservation order on her property, but she was told her application had been rejected, reports Tesside Live.
A letter from Darlington Council's planning team said the proposed work would result in a "significant detrimental impact" on the visual amenities of the tree and the surrounding area.
It's caused huge frustration, with Celia adding that she just wanted to manage the tree, and that it could actually benefit from some pruning.
It's unclear why the council rejected permission for the work, which was recommended by an arborist and will be paid for in full by the homeowner.
The mother-of-two said: "It’s been quite stressful. I’m quite a resilient person, but I do get quite fed up with it. Someone could say, well you could move, and I could, but I like where I live and it would be a shame because I like the tree.
"It just needs to be managed, that’s all."
The application was refused a month after its submission, and Celia appealed the decision with the planning inspectorate in January this year, but seven months later she claimed she's yet to hear about the request.
Her main concern is that if the tree is not appropriately managed it will continue to grow past its current 72ft and could risk damage to her house.
An arborist's report, paid for by Celia, from December 2021 stated that while the tree is healthy, it is large for its location and "without suitable management this tree will continue to increase in size, both vertically and laterally".
The tree surgeon recommended reducing and thinning the crown, which would help ease the wind loading on the primary scaffold - something the homeowner has been concerned about following the effects of Storm Arwen last year.
She said: " It’s made me more anxious, definitely. It was that that got me thinking 'we’re going to have do something about this tree', because along Cemetery Lane there was about 15 trees uprooted that were bigger than this one. I thought if it can do that - what would this one do?"
The teacher planned to do other work to her home including replacing the facias, but she doesn't want to pay for other work to be done that could be damaged.
Moss from the lime tree has caused problems for Celia previously resulting in clogging and cracked gutters. She has also moved her television aerial, as the tree has doubled in size since she moved into the property 15 years ago.
She has the full support of her neighbours, who agree that the tree needs tending to and who do not have an issue with the work being carried out.
One neighbour even expressed fears that the 72ft tree could fall on their own house behind Celia's property.
A Darlington Borough Council spokesman said: “We can confirm permission was refused for the tree works and we understand the house owner has appealed to the Planning Inspectorate. It would not be appropriate to comment while we, like the householder, await the outcome of the appeal.”
