Tree pruning by housing association after safety fears from Old Colwyn single father

The single father, who asked not to be named, lives in Cwm Teg, Old Colwyn, and has joint responsibility for his three-year-old child.

Pictures show his house being penned in by trees on adjacent land, some of which are now resting on his 50/50 shared ownership property.

Some had even been growing through his fences and into his garden, blocking out light and taking up space.

The refuse worker said he was worried about his son’s safety in case one of the branches fell off but, despite working full-time, he couldn’t afford to engage a tree surgeon to do remedial work.

He contacted Conwy county council which said the land the trees are on, near Fairy Glen, is nothing to do with them and not warden controlled – but didn’t give him a clue who owned it.

The father of one had already contacted his landlord, North Wales Housing Association, but he claimed it had done nothing to rectify the problem.

He said: “I’ve lost half of my garden. The branches are on the roof of the house, they make a terrible noise when it’s windy.

“I can’t open the front bedroom window because the branches will poke into the room.

“I was told anything inside the house was my problem but anything outside the house was North Wales Housing’s problem.”

Despite the assurance, he claimed he’d had no joy from the social housing provider in getting the trees cut back and no one could tell him who owned the land.

However, after the Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted the organisation to establish who owned the land, it agreed the trees were its responsibility.

Brett Sadler, operations director at North Wales Housing, said: “North Wales Housing is responsible for the trees in question, and when the tenant reported the issue a year ago we carried out works on the trees to ensure they didn’t overhang the property.

“We are happy to arrange for further tree works to be carried out.”