Cheriachan v Williams

Land and Environment Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Cheriachan v Williams [2014] NSWLEC 1210 Hearing dates:13 October 2014Decision date: 13 October 2014 Jurisdiction:Class 2Before: Galwey AC Decision: The application is upheld. See orders at paragraph 5. Catchwords: TREES (DISPUTES BETWEEN NEIGHBOURS); damage; orders for tree removal. Legislation Cited: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 Category:Principal judgmentParties: Jayant Cheriachan (Applicant) Lindy Williams (Respondent) Representation: Jayant Cheriachan, litigant in person (Applicant) Lindy Williams, litigant in person (Respondent) File Number(s):20514 of 2014 JudgmentThis decision was given as an extemporaneous decision. It has been revised and edited prior to publication.This application, made under Part 2 of the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 ("the Trees Act"), concerns a large London Plane tree in a small back garden in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern. The garden is at the rear of a terrace house, one of a row of houses approximately 20 years old. The tree, which was apparently planted when the houses were constructed, is one of a row of trees planted in every second garden along the row of houses. The tree was planted against the side boundary. It is now more than 20 metres tall with a stem diameter of more than 600 millimetres. The diameter of its canopy is more than 15 metres. The garden is less than 5 metres wide.It was apparent through observations at the onsite hearing that the tree has caused damage to the applicant's property. As the stem of the tree has grown its...