Kot wrote:

Check your trees are not protected by a TPO before you do anything.

Depends what council your area is for them being helpful!
Buckinghamshire they charge the complainant £490.00 to look at the issue and they do not guarantee the results or refund any of the payment.

Ah, the Texas FullFat Chain saw Massacre.

Caesium wrote:

Kot wrote:

Check your trees are not protected by a TPO before you do anything.

Quote the opposite with conifers, they're never protected by TPO, in fact if you look up the high hedge act you'll see they are actually limited to 2m high by law. The council can come and cut them and then charge you for the privilege if someone complains.

I have half a dozen large cypress, to the un-educated (which I was ) they look very much in the conifer group and evergreen. And they are protected on my site.
Also there are 3 Thuja Plicate again, their foliage again evergreen and conifer like, again protected.
Also 2 large Fastigiate Yew evergreen and conifer like.

Also 40m of conifer hedging over 20 Years old over 3m height all that time kept well trimmed same height etc, and they where there before the neighbours houses were built 20 years ago.
Only had 1 complaint, but when I showed her the photo's of the hedge from Rightmove the day she moved in her new build, 20 years ago, complaint dropped.

Point being, don't assume, check and get advice. 2018 SE SDV8 4.4 Byron Blue

In short any tree can have a PTO against it. Some times they will have a small silver badge nailed on them with the ID number but this is not usually the case. I believe the OP just wanted to thin some branches and not fell the entire tree. Which shouldn’t be a problem.

MPx wrote:

First anything you want to cut bigger than about an inch will require a chainsaw.

Yeah right...

 Ed

Thank you very much sako!!!!, saw the photo you posted and now I cannot get the Monty Python Lumberjack song out of my head it will be there all bleedin day now

……oh I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK, sleep all night and I work all day………

sako243 wrote:

MPx wrote:

First anything you want to cut bigger than about an inch will require a chainsaw.

Yeah right...

Ha...yes makes my 3 foot saw look pathetic, and I'd always thought it a bit of a beast.

Click image to enlarge

 Mike - MPx

2017 5.0 V8 Supercharged SVAutobigraphy Dynamic SVO Palette Grey (2021-...)
2012 5.0 V8 Supercharged Autoboigraphy Orkney Grey (2017-2021)
2007 4.2 V8 Supercharged Vogue SE Tonga Green (2012-2017)
2002 4.4 V8 Vogue Bonnatti Grey (2008-2012)

Thanks all. bought an telescopic hand lopper thats done the majority of it, with me stood on the pergola on some scaffold boards (screwed them into place for safety)
The ordered a cheap Aldi scaffold tower to reach the parts Ive not been able to reach on the pergola. Its more a selection of ladders and platforms rather than actual scaffolding but it'll do. and at £99 it can go on ebay straight after

And, a 4m extending battery hedge trimmer (the branches arent that thick, more leaf than branch). so that too will either go in the shed or onto eBay after its been used.

Thanks all