In law, adjoining gardens do not have a right to light, but....

what you can do quite legally is to cut the tree back to point where it is in line with the boundary between your property and theirs, but you cannot cut back beyond that.
You cannot take the top shoot off wither unless it is on your side of the boundary.
You must offer your neighbour the offcuts but they are not bound to remove them, or you can simply put them over the fence.
There is no point in complaining to the council unless the tree is very close to your house itself, rather than the boundary, because they are fairly powerless to enforce anything.
If its still a problem for you and your other neighbours, you would need to get a County Court judgment against the tree owner.
The best non legal method is to wait for a day when its pissing rain, preferably during the winter when there are no leaves on the tree, then pour a bucket of Sodium Chlorate mixture around the base of it. Works a treat, then when it fails to come into leaf, there's always the suspicion that the frost got it!

Posted By: Kirrie, Feb 2, 17:03:08