mint Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 This is not a question I could ask in a straightforward manner, so please bear with me whilst I describe the situation.The people who have recently bought the house opposite have now set out to pull down a whole bank of trees that are on their land but border the public road.They have been at it for days now, sawing and cutting down dozens of trees (some very large) and the work is creating a lot of dust and dirt. That we do accept because, if you want to cut down trees, then that is what happens. However, the road is now absolutely filthy with mud and dirt . You now have to pick your way along the road and, on account of the recent rains, you have to be careful not to slip.The other thing is, they are now burning leaves and branches from the cut trees so that ash is deposited on everything and smoke is blowing everywhere. Anything left outdoors, such a car ,is covered in ashes and I can't put out any clothes on the line.Today has been the worst day of all as, despite shut windows and volets, the acrid smoke is getting into our house, making my eyes smart and affecting my breathing.What I am hoping is that someone will point out to me if there is anything legally that says they have to clean up the road or not to burn green material for days on end?I am, of course, utterly resigned to the fact that it's their trees and their land and they can do what the hell they like though it upsets me to see lovely trees that give our road such charm are now wantonly destroyed to make way for some sort of cheap, nasty-looking wire-fencing.Any info on any form of legislation that I can print out and take to the mairie would be fallen on with relief and gratitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Oh Sweet, you have my sympathy!I doubt that there is anything about clearing up the road surface; you only have to look at the state of the roads after the farmers have been ploughing or harvesting, loads of mud at the entrance to the fields, and usually for several hundred metres down the road. But then farmers do seem to be a breed apart and the whole way of life is built around them (in our area anyway!).Where you probably have some recourse is about the fires. Different areas have different rules, laws even, and in many places you are not allowed to have a fire without getting permission from the pompiers for a specific time/date, and in others you can't have a fire at all (unless you are a farmer, in which case you do as you wish [:-))] ). Your best bet is to start at the Mairie to find out the regulations. That's assuming that you haven't had a word with the neighbours first. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 You may find something on this pagehttp://www.adil40.fr/adil40/urbanisme_relations_de_voisinage/relations_de_voisinage/bruits_odeurs_fumees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 Sid and Norman, it's so nice just to have you take notice of my post.These people obviously do not have respect for others or care a damn. Unfortunately, today, the smoke has been blowing all our way but, if the wind changes, it will blow into the village and someone might sit up and take notice.OH tried to have a word but the man just turned his back on him. If it's just going to be till the heavy plant has got to go back to wherever, I'd hardly have time to take any measures.However, there is a social event in the village tomorrow and I am already down to attend so I will try and sound out opinion and speak to the maire. I don't like doing things like this when it's a social occasion as I am strongly of the view that a social occasion is not the time to bring up a matter that should properly belong to a time for business.Hey, ho, so nothing in law then that I could point to and remonstrate with the man about. But, I will review tactics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 As said, have a word with the mayor and if it is a 'D' road then you can try the DDE if only to get the road cleaned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 de 8 h 30 à 12 h et de 14 h 30 à 19 h 30, les samedis de 9 h à 12 h et de 15 h à 19 h et les dimanches et jours fériés, de 10 h à 12 h . These are the hours that they anyone can do bricolage or cut down trees with a chain saw, if they have been doing it other than these hours, then they are not sticking by the rules that they must understand (if they are french). They need reporting properly if they are so rude as to ignore your epoux.The problem when we move anywhere is who will be our 'neighbours', they can make life a joy or the other thing![:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 Thank you, Q and thank you, id.It's not that I am being a fusspot but the fumes are really giving me very sore eyes and throat.I am just afraid that they might keep it up for days as they have cut down possibly 50 trees or more some of which are massive and must have been there for many decades if not over a hundred years!Fortunately we don't live next door to them, only across the road. We can put up trellises and panels or grow our hedge larger and not have to see the ugliness but we don't like the dirt on the road and the fumes could make me very ill.Edit: no, Q, not a D road, just a very small road in our little village of only 400 odd people. As I have mentioned elsewhere, when property values fall, you do get another class of people move in and, if I sound elitist, so be it because I have been round the block a few times and I have lived in places where "undesirables" have moved in after a drop in house prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 If it were me I wouldn't use the issue of the trees being removed but more the issue that all the debris and the burning is dangerous to cars and pedestrians alike because it is very slippery especially with rain and ice and even worse if drivers can't see where they are going. As an example I would try the following.."Our new neighbours have currently removed around 50 trees from their property close to the road. It has made a bit of a mess with debris on the road etc and what with the rain and frosts the surface is very slippery and could cause a serious accident. The whole safety situation is made worse because the cut down trees are being burnt close to the road and at times you can't see a metre in front of you when driving. Somebody could easily be knocked down and killed.".If the mayor or DDE want to pick up on the quantity of trees cut down that's their business, your prime concern is safety, if you catch my drift. [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Sweets, I will be brief and in caps: GO AND SEE THE MAYOR and jump and down and scream and shout a bit. It works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cendrillon Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 dittoet bonne chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 Excellent suggestions, Q, Wooly and Cendrillon.As a matter of fact, it's not really an exaggeration to say the road is dangerous to walk on. Also, our très practique location is between the churhc and the cemetery and elderly people walk on it everyday to er...have a chat with their loved departed ones.I will make the most of tomorrow night's social event to sound out some people, including a councillor or two, and make an appointment with the maire for early next week and make it as formal an occasion as I can.Should I also take some photos to bring along? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cendrillon Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Yes, photos might help, the more evidence the better IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 I have run your suggestions past OH and he says he is going to take photos very ostentatiously in the man's view tomorrow. So, he will know, at the very least, that we have evidence of the choas he is causing.BTW, the fires are still going and the smoke at this very moment is making my eyes smart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Sweet, I don't know how big your commune is, but here for example we have a commune population of 400; we know the mayor and I would be phoning him now! Next week may be too late, OK perhaps the fires will be out, but what about next time? Act now and put a stop to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 5, 2013 Author Share Posted January 5, 2013 Thank you, Sid, the fires are smouldering as I write. I shall be seeing the mayor this evening. I have hesitated a little because he has a relation who has just deceased (a few days ago) and I would have felt a might intrusive.Some of us do still have a care of others......As written on another thread, the uprooting of so many trees from a high earth bank has destabilised the ground completely and so I fear we can now look forward to years of earth and mud being washed down the bank onto the road which was formerly delightly clean where you could reach the odd plum or greengage to eat and where the dog has learnt how to crack open walnuts.Happy Days....sigh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Well I reckon that the fire has less of an effect on you than the 3 in my street last year.One because a gypsy dealer hadn't been paid so he torched the downstairs flat opposite, one next door while I was in hospital and the poor drunken soul in the second floor studio set fire to her place accidentally, and the third a few doors down in mysterious circumstances but had the happy out come of a complete refit paid for by the insurance[:-))]Fortunately I live on the ground floor so could possibly hobble out, but as you will see access for the pompiers is not easyYou can imagine the smoke![IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/urbanjungle_zps551240e6.png[/IMG] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 5, 2013 Author Share Posted January 5, 2013 Norman, if there is a just god, I am praying to him or her to make the smoke blow the other way and back towards his own house and into the village. I suppose when the villagers are coughing and spluttering in vast numbers, someone will go sort this man out![6]I'd even kneel down to Wooly's Bobo if I thought it would help.....[:-))]Norman, is that your handsome profile I see on the right of your picture?[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Most villages have an arret municipal banning the burning of rubbish, garden refuse and trees, I bet yours has and he has chosen the holiday period to do the deed, if such an arret (or is it arrêt?) is in place it will be on both the inside and outside notice boards at the mairie.The timing is such that I would also suspect that he isnt actually permitted to fell the trees.Fait accompli being a French word and all that...................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just john Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 [quote user="sweet 17"] OH tried to have a word but the man just turned his back on him. If it's just going to be till the heavy plant has got to go back to wherever, I'd hardly have time to take any measures. However, there is a social event in the village tomorrow and I am already down to attend so I will try and sound out opinion and speak to the maire. I don't like doing things like this when it's a social occasion as I am strongly of the view that a social occasion is not the time to bring up a matter that should properly belong to a time for business.Hey, ho, so nothing in law then that I could point to and remonstrate with the man about. But, I will review tactics.[/quote]Oh Sweet Quelle dommage!, Not much chance of a friendly neighbour at the minute then, Are the people doing the work 'entrepreneurs' or the owners? Have they submitted notification of works? either way I wouldn't be shy in coming forward and like the french, defo would buttonhole the Maire and PWM at the social event, perhaps the only time you can enquire with a smile on your face and be regarded as an ami with a legitimate concern. It's just possible that with everything else going on the Maire has not been aware, but I would gamble that someone else around feels the same as you, have you spoken to George and Mildred or the other neighbours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 5, 2013 Author Share Posted January 5, 2013 Chance, I just thought that he'd chosen the holiday period because he is off work and perhaps the machinery is cheaper to hire?JJ, yes, I'm deffo going to collar the maire tonight.I love your description of George and Mildred. No joy there! He's as dim as a toc H lamp and she thinks the new man has looks "to die for"(her words!)Sorry to disenchant you, JJ, but you see that you aren't the only man for whom she'd pop her c***(hey, I'm only quoting the words from the song "Goldfinger"!)Edit: sorry, I mean "Heavy Spender"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louloulaloopski Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 [quote user="Chancer"]Most villages have an arret municipal banning the burning of rubbish, garden refuse and trees, I bet yours has and he has chosen the holiday period to do the deed, if such an arret (or is it arrêt?) is in place it will be on both the inside and outside notice boards at the mairie.The timing is such that I would also suspect that he isnt actually permitted to fell the trees.Fait accompli being a French word and all that......................[/quote]Yeah but the fine is the same as for not having an ethylotest....€11....and the hassle of instigating proceedings in the local tribunal de police to get a conviction is remote.And of course the reg applies to fresh green leaves dripping with dioxin.....my leaves are dry and harmless wouldn't hurt a fly........disconsolate look on garde champetre's face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted January 5, 2013 Author Share Posted January 5, 2013 Loops, the stuff can't come any greener as they have only just been cut down.Will see what the maire says this evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Norman, is that your handsome profile I see on the right of your picture?Sussed. But it was intended as bait for WB.It is horrible when something you are fond of is despoiled by fools. You have my sympathy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 The trouble with having any sort of dispute with neighbours, whether in the UK or France, is the misery they can then make of your life (especially if they are told off or fined by the authorities). If it's something temporary (such as the mess, smoke and noise of these trees being cut down) I think I'd ignore it. If it was something on-going which would spoil your enjoyment of living in the house, then I'd move. I don't know whether in France (as in the UK) neighbour disputes have to be declared to buyers, but that would be another reason to say nothing.I know this is contrary to what everyone else has said, and it may well be cowardly, but it does make for a less stressful life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 As John implied, I think they should have got permission before cutting down all those trees, especially if the roots were supporting a bank of earth. In fact I just read an article today which says you need permission from the prefecture, though the case in point was a small wood.Rustica 2245 p.46. Very difficult when they're close neighbours, as Pommier says.Good luck when you see the Maire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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