A FURIOUS Whitehill resident is threatening to take legal action against a housing association, claiming it arranged for trees in her garden to be cut down without informing her. Debbie Thompson originally leased her downstairs flat in Sutton Fields from Drum Housing, but now owns the property and recently put it on the market. She returned home from work on Monday last week to find the two-storey high trees in her front garden had been cut to a height of just four feet by a workman brought in by the association. Ms Thompson was told by Drum that it had written to her warning it would take action following complaints from the upstairs tenant about the treetops obstructing window views. But she claims she never received any correspondence from Drum mentioning the complaint or planned remedial work and further claims her neighbour told her she had asked for the trees to be "trimmed away from the window" more than a year ago. Ms Thompson said: I went to work on Monday as normal but when I came home and saw what had happened I nearly died. Nobody had said anything to me so I was absolutely livid. "I got on the phone to Drum straight away. At the time I was shaking because I was so mad." She spoke to a Drum representative who visited her home last Thursday and told her the association thought she had known about the problem and had no objection to the tree- cutting as it had sent her a note explaining the situation and had heard no reply. The representative apparently told Ms Thompson the association understood her anger, but had been advised by a tree expert that unless the trees were completely cut down there was a risk of them falling on people or vehicles. Ms Thompson, who works as an IT and administration assistant in Holtpound, is trying to sell the flat she shares with her partner Brian and son Jamie and had a first visit from prospective buyers on Saturday. The 41year old has spent money on replacing worn fencing surrounding the garden in preparation for viewings. This project was finished the day before the trees were cut. She saw a solicitor on Friday to discuss beginning legal proceedings and told The Herald: "Drum has no power to just come onto my land without warning me, so they have breached my rights. "I have my flat on the market and it now looks a complete eyesore thanks to someone's complete incompetence. My garden now looks a mess, fter all the hard work and money we have put into it recently. "If I had been here when they came round they would not have gotten away with it." A sokesman for Drum Housing said: "A laurel bush in the garden of the property was cut from first floor height to fence height. "Drum Housing deeply regrets that the bush was cut to a level which Ms Thompson found unacceptable and a letter of apology has been sent to her. "We can clearly state we took this action because the resident above was having enormous problems with the bush blocking the view from her window and banging against the window in windy weather."
