Hedge/tree cutting

My Dad and his neighbour shared the job of clipping the hedge between their gardens. They took it in turns to do both sides and dispose of the cuttings afterwards.
This is the law on Overhanging Trees & Branches

The owner of a tree is not obliged to trim their trees or hedges to prevent them from crossing over a boundary. Whilst the tree owner is not obliged to cut back overhanging branches, the person whose property is overhung has the right to cut back the branches to the boundary providing there are no planning restrictions on the trees such as Tree Protection Orders.

The resulting debris remains the property of the tree owner, but you must not cause any damage to their property when returning it back to them and you do not have a right to trespass on the tree owner’s property in carrying out the works. In the interests of good neighbourly relations, we would encourage neighbours to discuss their intentions with each other before carrying out works.

Yes, exactly as I thought hilda so why do the articles in the press both say that it's a criminal offence
Unless it's the wording.....it does say it's illegal to "throw" the cuttings back

FOUR !!!

That should be FORE !!

I have heard it as "You have to offer them back" which makes it sound as though they can refuse them. Then you'd be stuck with them.

What about the other side of it? If a neighbour cuts his own trees severely back (or gets a contractor to do it) and some of the branches fall into your garden, shouldn't he remove them? If he can't trespass on your garden (fair enough) surely he should come round and ask for permission to collect them?

New neighbours whose garden touches mine from the side (round the corner) had one tree cut down, very near my boundary and halved the height of two others. At the same time a solid 6ft fence was put up all round. It seemed that the debris had been taken away by the contractors, until I noticed that branches that I thought were still attached turned out to be cut off and resting on top of my pergola, which runs down that side. Once they were pulled clear and cut up smaller, they filled a one-ton builder's bag. By then the contractors were long gone, and no-one was at home when I called round to ask what to do with the stuff. Because of the fence I couldn't speak informally over the wall, it would have taken a complaining visit - not a good start - so it has all been stuffed gradually into the garden rubbish wheeliebin over several weeks.

And don't forget that if you're in a conservation area you can't cut down or prune a tree that's 3in in diameter at 5ft, even if it's in your garden or overhanging your garden, without the permission of the district council.

We're using this law to protect some local trees atm.

We have a 9 ft privet that runs along the bottom boundry of our garden it is growing on council land and is the border between us and a sportboundry. Even with ladders it is too wide for H to reach the back to reduce the hight but he does cut it flush with the wire fence that fronts onto our boundry.H has deposited the cuttings over the council side for as many years as I can remember.

I suppose the council would say that it needs to be high to prevent balls etc. coming over into your garden.

You couldn't cut on their side of the hedge even if you could reach. You can only cut off the bits on your side.