ISP (not BT) want to cut down our trees

[MoelyCrio]

How are you getting your internet OP?

[Mammasaid]

FTTC via good old BT, so no interest in other ISP.

[Mr GrimNasty]

There is no recourse/right in law for TV/Satellite/Radio etc. signals blocked or disrupted by trees, so I doubt this is any different - that is to say they cannot force you to prune the trees.

[dxg]

Is the ISP a Statutory Undertaker?

I wasn't aware that ISPs had that status... BT maybe, but ISPs?

[hotchy]

I cant get sky because of trees, im guessing sky is bigger than a wireless provider and couldnt cut treesmso I doubt a small wifi company could. Iv got virgin now, after having sky for years before those pesky trees stopped me. They look nice so id not change them anyway.

[thebraketester]

So they trim the trees to give line of sight.... the trees grow back.... back to square one?

[hyphen]

hotchy said:

I cant get sky because of trees, im guessing sky is bigger than a wireless provider and couldnt cut treesmso I doubt a small wifi company could. Iv got virgin now, after having sky for years before those pesky trees stopped me. They look nice so id not change them anyway.

Sky will probably charge a lot less than a rural provider though.

bogie said:

Their network design should have taken into account the trees and if necessary raised the masts/antenna so line of sight (and fresnel zone) is achievable. This is basic wireless networking practice. If they needed to go through an area they should have consulted the tree/land owner first, not implemented the network then complain about the trees afterwards.

At least that would be the common sense approach

Yes, but it isn't common sense, it's 'business'. So more likely Neighbour was promised fast speeds when he signed up 12 months ago, and now the contract is up he is threatening to cancel.

[Some Gump]

I don't get it.

Surely OP is provided by BT fibre, so is on exchange.

Other house wants wireless access over OP's land, claimed by culling trees.

Why not dig a cable? Cost? Why should the OP make a hole in his air for that? If my neighbor wanted to drill a hole through my shed to install a cheaper broadband fibre would I be obliges? Of course not.

All smacks of daftness. Op - reject neighbour, dress his wife up as a cat, set her light off, get your dog to bum his lawn, and remap his mx-sausage. Job jobbed.

[Alucidnation]

Can we see a pic of the offending shrubbery?

[EggsBenedict]

The electricity board come and chop bits out of trees that are on our land quite regularly.

They are usually a bit dickish about it. They don't provide much notice and they just hack away with no real concern for the tree's shape or how it will affect the long term prospects for the tree itself.

That said, they do send people round to inspect what's been done. Last time, I happened to be working from home and spotted some bloke looking around - did the usual 'Can I help you?' thing. Turns out it's the inspection bloke. I moan and say 'Look at that tree, totally ruined the shape, looks horrible etc.' Blokey agrees, gets chopping people out again, who chop tree into a nice shape. There are some actual humans who work in these firms...

Point is, if they can get a compulsory order (and I don't know if they can), then they'll butcher your trees. If you don't force them down that route, but you set some stipulations about what they can and can't do and have an agreement with them (maybe that does include free internet or whatever), then you can manufacture a win/win situation maybe.

Otherwise, yeah, sod 'em, demand lots of cash, bum their sausages, hammer frozen red bull into their lawn, throw cans of dogs at them, nuke them from orbit etc. etc.

[Mammasaid]

Alucidnation said:

Can we see a pic of the offending shrubbery?

This is the hedgerow in question taken 8 years ago. Understandably the trees have grown since.

[KTF]

thebraketester said:

So they trim the trees to give line of sight.... the trees grow back.... back to square one?

A friends neighbour once mounted their sky dish to a tree. Every few years they wondered why it had to be aligned again...

[ManicMunky]

Sounds par for the course for these WISPs... take great big handfuls of government money to supply internet to rural homes and then run the business into the ground by not providing said connection due to their own inability to run a network.

They buy kit and throw it up seemingly without a plan for how to the network will grow.

[SantaBarbara]

Is the neighbour just being awkward because he has a grudge against you?

Are you sure someone isn't trying to wind you up as a prank

[Mammasaid]

SantaBarbara said:

Is the neighbour just being awkward because he has a grudge against you?

Are you sure someone isn't trying to wind you up as a prank

No

[Chrisgr31]

Mammasaid said:

This is the hedgerow in question taken 8 years ago. Understandably the trees have grown since.

Perhaps you should suggest they wait until the autumn as leaf fall will prove whether its your trees in the way or something else causing th problem!

[SantaBarbara]

Find out where the transmitting unit is, then trace the Line of Sight to the neighbours antenna.

Using an OS map if necessary

Ask them to exactly specify which branches they propose to prune.

Surely you can spin this out for years in correspondence?

[Podie]

hyphen said:

LeadFarmer said:

If you get a TPO then you wouldn't be able to fell the trees if ever you needed to - house extension etc.

And I think you would technically need to put in an application to let the council know you are trimming the trees?

Correct.

We have trees with TPOs, and you need permission to trim them and generally have to use an approved tree surgeon too.

[Gareth79]

I'd be surprised if a court would allow trees wholly on somebody else's land to be trimmed/lopped to improve a WISP signal, the Communications Act doesn't seem to cover it so would they be relying on convincing a court it's a common law nuisance?

The Canary Wharf case covered blocking of TV reception, I'd think that is quite relevant even though in your case the service being blocked is subject to a paid contract between two parties:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_v_Canary_Whar...
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldj...

This council's page is quite informative on the general subject:

http://www.wyre.gov.uk/info/200366/trees/336/probl...

[dxg]

Gareth79 said:

I'd be surprised if a court would allow trees wholly on somebody else's land to be trimmed/lopped to improve a WISP signal, the Communications Act doesn't seem to cover it so would they be relying on convincing a court it's a common law nuisance?

The Canary Wharf case covered blocking of TV reception, I'd think that is quite relevant even though in your case the service being blocked is subject to a paid contract between two parties:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_v_Canary_Whar...
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldj...

This council's page is quite informative on the general subject:

http://www.wyre.gov.uk/info/200366/trees/336/probl...

Exactly. Which is why I was asking if the ISP is actually a Statutory Undertaker or not. We need to establish if they have any right to make this request.