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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Harry Ingham & Graeme Murray

Man forced to leave lights on all day because of '50ft trees blocking windows'

A man is being forced to leave his lights on all day because of '50ft trees blocking TV signal and windows'

Carl Martindale claims the foliage is impacting his quality of life and those of other neighbours.

They grow behind a communal garden fence, on land formerly occupied by a factory.

Carl, 49, told Hull Live the trees are blocking natural light in their homes, forcing him to keep the lights on all day as the price of energy spirals.

He also says they are blocking his phone signal and interfering with the service on his Sky box.

Carl Martingale says the trees are impacting his quality of life (Hull Live/MEN MEDIA)

The local authority has offered to cut down overhanging branches. But if the trees were to be cut down in height Hull City Council insists they would regrow faster and spread even more causing the neighbours even more problems.

Carl said: "We moved into the bungalow in April this year and there was a tree on our property outside the bedroom window.

"We asked the housing association to remove it to let the light in, and they sorted it without a problem.

"Next to our communal garden there is a row of 50ft trees that were put in to hide the old Birds Eye factory from view.

"But, the factory hasn't been there for donkey's years now and it is just used to store caravans - so why do they have to be there?

Carl says the trees surrounding the garden block light and affect the television signal (Hull Live/MEN MEDIA)

"It's blocking all of the light in our kitchen, so we have to keep the lights on all day, and it's blocking the signal on our phones and our SKY box. These are services that we pay for, but we're not getting our money's worth.

"If one of those trees blew down, there would be a hell of a lot of damage - it would go straight onto our bungalow.

"I just don't understand why they need to be 50ft high, they're not hiding anything anymore."

The trees cover Carl's house in darkness meaning he needs to keep the light on all day (Hull Live/MEN MEDIA)

Carl explained Hull City Council had already sent an operative round to trim some overhanging branches, rather than reducing their height.

He said: "I like trees, and I'm not saying I want them cut down entirely - I just want the council to trim them down to a reasonable height. I think it's fair enough to want light in your property,"

A spokesperson for Hull City Council said: "Council staff attended to trim back the trees where they overhang into properties and to remove some of the lower branches.

Hull City Council insists the trees would regrow faster if they were cut and cause neighbours even more problems (Hull Live/MEN MEDIA)

"However, residents said they didn’t want this work carrying out, so we left without doing it.

"It isn’t possible to reduce the height of the trees, as the trees would regrow very fast from the point they were cut, and spread further – meaning it would actually make it worse for the residents.

"We will happily go back to trim and remove the lower branches if that’s what residents want."

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