A CAIRNEYHILL woman is hoping that the current sunny weather sticks around – as she says she hasn’t a chance of seeing it in her garden until October.

Anne Sinclair shelled out £380 to get Fife Council to cut back a 40-plus feet tree behind her North Bank Road home but, more than a year after reporting the issue, she’s still in the shade.

She claimed one department of the council even went down the legal route and had to “serve a notice” on colleagues in another department to get them to do the work, which hasn’t been done and now won’t be until the bird nesting season finishes!

Anne said: “This is the best summer we’ve had since 1976 and I can’t get a view of it and won’t get any sun until October!”

She contacted the council in March 2017 to have something done and ended up forking out £380 to take out a High Hedges Notice so that it could be dealt with.

“It has gone on and on and I eventually got to the stage I thought I will have to do this unless I am going to live in darkness for the rest of my days,” Anne said. “There is no sunlight or daylight getting into the back of my house.

“Between September and April, I have had to make 15 phone calls to see what they are doing about it and I have had all sorts of explanations from it being a complicated procedure to it being new legislation.

“They couldn’t deal with it. Reading between the lines, the council’s planning department have had to serve a notice on the council parks department to get the tree cut back. They have had to go through their own legal department to get something done with it and I am paying for this. They now say they aren’t able to do it until after the bird nesting season is over but I have never seen any birds nesting in there.”

Anne, 62, said she has been unable to enjoy any sunshine in her own garden – she’s had to go to a friend’s house – as it is covered by the shadow of the massive tree from morning until night. There was an issue with another tree on a neighbouring property but it was cut back.

She said: I don’t want the trees destroyed – I want them maintained. They are over 40 feet now. My building is semi detached and probably 40 feet high but the trees are hanging over it. It is like a solid wall and no light is getting into the back of my house.

“The tree has been here since I moved in but over the last 10 years, I have had to report it every year that it is getting bigger. They appeared once to prune it and take a branch down.

“My application was lodged in plenty of time outwith the bird nesting season. I was assured by the council in November that it would be dealt with by Christmas. Thanks to Fife Council’s parks department, I am missing out on the summer.”

Derek Simpson, of Fife Council, said they were taking “appropriate action” and added: “A council tree officer has assessed the part of the hedge in Fife Council ownership and confirmed that there are bird nests in the hedge. In turn, in line with the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, this part of the hedge will be cut back in September, outwith the bird nesting season, to a height of less than 3.5 metres.”