Grounds licence

[melonfool]

Hi

My house has a deep pavement verge at the front, right in front of the driveway this is tarmac, to the left (from the house) in front of the wall and shed, it is grass with a large acer tree on it.

This verge is about five feet deep and then there is the normal pavement that people walk along and then the road.

When I moved in I checked with the council that I do not own this land (I don't) as I was keen not to be responsible for a large tree right next to the road. I am not responsible for it and at my request they surveyed it (along with the one next door, more of that in a mo) and agreed to pollard it in the new year, this year. They have just done that, two weeks ago.

Next door has the same arrangement, his tree is slightly smaller. He parks his car on the tarmac bit as he has fenced in his whole front garden with a locked gate. Sometimes my visitors park on the tarmac bit of mine. Other people along the road park on 'theirs' (there are no other trees).

So, the tree chaps came back today and MrNextDoor saw them and called the council to say he did not want them to pollard 'his' tree as he does not like the way they have done it (it is quite severe, but I don't mind, no leaves to sweep this autumn!). Apparently, he has a 'grounds licence' over this bit of land so he is allowed to choose what happens to the tree.

When I first moved he told me he had tried to buy the land but the council had refused (I do not want to own this bit of land myself!), last week he told me he had this licence (which he didn't tell me at first) and that he is allowed to enclose it in his garden if he wants to but has decided not to as it would spoil the look of the street (very uncharacteristically neighbourly of him!).

I am a bit cross that his tree will not be pollarded as they shed a ton of leaves and twigs all year round, more so in autumn of course, and most of it falls on my driveway.

So, my questions:

1) surely the council still 'owns' the tree if all he has is a grounds licence? So, why have they not pollarded it (I suspect the answer is simply 'he is a pain and they can't be bothered to argue with him')?
2) can I park on that bit of tarmac or do I need a licence? (I'm not really bothered either way, but had a skip there recently and agreed with the builders that we would get a public land licence for it as it was only £60 and easier than trying to work out if it was needed).
3) should I buy this 'licence' for my bit? I don't want to take on responsibility for a large tree. I can't see how the licence makes you responsible for the tree though? I've looked at another council website on the matter and they charge £200pa for this licence, it's def not worth that!
4) when the leaves fall from MrGrumpy's tree, can I insist HE sweeps them up, not me, since he is the one who seems to think he has control over the stupid tree?

I will phone the council shortly about this, but I sort of want to get a better understanding of the position first.

Thanks
Mel