So the beautiful trees along Altrincham road that were axed while full of cherry blossom have been replaced by 'designer' trees.

Clipped into tall box like shapes these beech trees must fulfil some designer's idea of an improvement - personally I would rather have the old, mature trees that they saw fit to axe. Presumably the remodelled parade of shops was thought to need a 'matching' row of trees, very neat but lacking in character.

Conversely there are other trees around the area which definitely need at the very least pollarding, but can you get anyone to accept responsibility when it becomes obvious that a tree surgeon should be involved?

If the tree is on your land you are obviously responsible, but when it is on public land it's a minefield. BT, whose phone cables are often entwined in the branches, will do as little as possible, just enough to sort the cable but not enough to sort the tree.

While if the tree is on the roadside and therefore part of the council's highway responsibility, they simply turn up and, unless there is some obvious damage, say 'it looks ok' and leave. At least that has been my personal experience, there is a huge tree near where I live which is beautiful but which all of the residents living close to it have agreed needs cutting back before there is a serious accident. We have all at some point appealed to the council to cut it back before a storm does. But no, 'it looks ok'...

There's also an issue when the roots from trees like this on a public highway cause serious damage to people's drives and even buildings. Once again, getting the council to accept responsibility is virtually impossible. One local resident is just investing a lot of money in surveys to prove to the council that it is their tree that is causing his garage and drive to subside.

On a similar theme, can people with hedges that border public pavements please keep them in check. Now they are bursting forth with new growth the hedges are in some cases almost taking over pavements.

I witnessed one mum having to take her baby's pushchair into the road just to get by last week and another was pushing long, wispy pieces of wilderness back into the hedge so that it wouldn't scratch her children's faces.

If we all have a little consideration for our neighbours it helps...

Have you had a problem with trees on public land? Let us know…