HOME owners whose garden fences were smashed by a falling 40 feet silver birch tree say they are being left in potential danger by Barnsley Council - because of its refusal to fell trees overlooking their homes.
The tree broke a fence and damaged the roof of a garden shed when it fell into the garden of a home in Station Cottages in Darton on Sunday.
The badly shaken residents are furious, saying they have even offered to pay for a tree surgeon to remove the trees, on an area called Longfields, because they believe they are potentially so dangerous.
They argue that for the past eight years they have been warning that the trees, some of which are 60 feet tall, need attention.
One of the residents, Denis Baker, 54, who has lived there for the 11 years said: "The trees are in an area considered council parkland.
"But the trees are not being looked after and when they fall, as happened on Sunday, it is not council land they fall on, it is our gardens and it could be our homes.
"I'm even frightened to let our grandchildren play in the garden on a windy day, it's a very worrying situation."
Coun Roy Miller, cabinet spokesman said: "The trees on Longfields, near to station cottages in Darton, were last inspected two years ago.
"The trees were deemed safe and healthy.
"Following reports that one of the trees had fallen down, the remaining trees have been checked and they are all healthy.
"We can't guarantee that a healthy tree will never fall down or lose large branches, especially in severe weather, but the chances of this happening are low.
"With our environment in mind, we will never reduce a healthy tree's height, which is bad practice and often results in future problems, or cut it down, unless we think it is dangerous to the public or property."
