A HOMEOWNER has been told to trim his 25-metre tree after its massive shadow left furious neighbours in the dark for eight years.

Jon Rose's huge Leylandii conifers have been "casting a full shadow" across one furious neighbour's garden and blocking sunlight to solar panels on their garage.

Other exasperated neighbours said the unruly shrub shows signs of damaging a paved area and risks "significant costly structural damage" to their garage.

And last week, council officials ruled Jon's hedges do "adversely affect the enjoyment" of the neighbouring properties on Southgate Court and Station Road in Eckington, Derbys, The Star reports.

The warning letter from the council said Jon, an IT consultant, must cut back his massive trees within six months – or face prosecution or a fine.

According to council documents, Jon's neighbours, Richard and Sheila Cory, originally wrote a letter of complaint about the trees in 2013.

The couple wrote: "For much of the year they cast a full shadow across our garden and in the winter months they block the light of the sun when it is low in the sky from our kitchen.

"It disturbs me to think that maybe you are resisting the idea of cutting them down – I think you simply need to be a good neighbour and completely fell all of them."

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It has taken eight years of complaints for any action to be taken.

But Jon claims his house has suffered water damage and cutting the trees down would make the problem worse.

He said: "They're around 20 metres high, but to cut them down to two or three metres, you might as well cut them out all together as they'll just die and will need cutting out.

"The reason they're so big and healthy is because they're soaking up water.

"We don't know where the water is coming from, but it's causing damage and that will get worse if the trees are cut down.

"The irony is one of the trees is soaking up water and stop them going in to their garden. Cutting it down would turn their garden into a bog."

But neighbour Richard, 67, challenged Jon's claim in a formal letter in January and demanded "documentary evidence".

This has been going for about 10 years and causing so much stress.

After asking North East Derbyshire District Council to step in, Richard said: "They dominate everything. They’re higher than the house now, about 20-25 metres high. It’s ridiculous – we would like them removed."

Wife Sheila, a 67-year-old retired district nurse, added: "It blocks our light."

The planning officers have now said Jon's two conifer bushes must be trimmed to no more than 2.1 metres and 5.3 metres – and kept at no more than 3.1 metres and 6.3 metres.

But Jon, who took the house on from his parents in 2002, said: "I'm suffering more than anyone else, because my garden is totally in shade, but I can't cut them down.

"This has been going for about 10 years and causing so much stress.

"I have been trying to get hold of the council officer who wrote the letter but he isn't at work and nobody else will talk to me.

"I feel like they're trying to avoid a discussion so don't want to talk to me.

"I've been dealing with so many authorities and I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall."

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