Problem tree blights lives of Seacroft residents for FIVE years

Two gardens in east Leeds have become no-go areas due to an enormous dying tree.
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Adam Chapman, who lives in Foundry Mill Walk, Seacroft, says the garden of his mum’s council-owned home next door has a tree suffering from woodworm – but Leeds City Council are yet to remove it, a full five years after it was first reported.

The state of the tree has since deteriorated so badly that it is now unsafe to use either of their gardens, while Adam and his mum Linda can ill-afford to pay for the work themselves.

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Adam, a 34-year-old joiner, said: “In June this year, a large tree branch fell off. Tthe council told us not to go to that end of the garden and we are still waiting.

Linda Chapman with the tricky tree.Linda Chapman with the tricky tree.
Linda Chapman with the tricky tree.

“I’m fed up – we could not go out into our garden during lockdown. I ended up getting three quotes for the tree.

“We were quoted £1,600 – if it were five or six hundred pounds, we could club together and do it ourselves, but we can’t afford £1,600.”

He and his mother first noticed the large tree at the end of her garden was diseased back in 2015. They contacted the council and were told the tree was suffering from woodworm, and that the tree would eventually be cut down by the authority.

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Fast forward to June this year and no work had yet been done on the tree, which was now in such a poor state that a large, rotting branch fell and damaged fencing between the two gardens.

Mr Chapman said the council had told them not to use the ends of their gardens until the tree had been dealt with. Months later, the Chapmans are still waiting for the council to sort the problem.

To make matters worse, the ends of their gardens, now overgrown, are overrun with rats due, in part, to an adjacent alleyway being a fly-tipping hotspot.

He said the issue with the tree was now taking its toll on the lives of him and his two young children, adding: “The tree is dangerous – I want the tree gone – and the rats are a nightmare.”

Leeds City Council has been contacted for a comment.