...and it's hello from Hampshire

[niceguyeddie]

Hi everybody,

I've just joined the forum. It has already been a useful mine of information for me as a guest.

My neighbours and I were recently approached regarding the sale of about 5 1/2 acres of woodland which backs onto our gardens, in Hampshire. We are currently at an advanced stage of negotiation. It's looking like we'll be able to come to a deal as long as we neighbours continue to pull together (organising ourselves to do this is proving to be the most difficult thing!).

Our aim is to prevent future development, preserve the wildlife, and tidy up the woods which have been without management for at least the last 20 years.

I'm hoping to get some friendly advice from those who are further up the path of woodland-owning happiness!

[oldclaypaws]

Sounds great, having a wood at the bottom of the garden.

How many neighbours are chipping in and what sort of trees are in the wood ?

How do you propose to organise a democratic running of the maintenance, or will you split it into separate areas allocated to each house ?

I'd suggest (although you've probably got your own ideas) that one option is retain the wood as one jointly owned area and everyone who chips in gets a pro rata 'share' of some sort of ownership in a formal wood 'trust' entity, and you write yourselves some sort of common sense constitution / guidelines to avert any future tensions or disagreements. Something along the lines of the covenants woodlands.co.uk have might work- ruling out any activity that is generally deemed antisocial, like selling subplots, building on, dumping, etc...... Although sometimes neighbours don't get on, and splitting it might be the easiest route !

Whichever route you're going down, It will probably substantially increase the desirability and value of your houses and give you all a lot of pleasure and fitness, which can't be bad....

Best of luck, and welcome aboard.

[niceguyeddie]

Hi oldclaypaws. Thanks for your interest.

There are about 7 of us, though some may pull out before a deal is finalised.
The wood is entirely deciduous and has (amongst others) oak, hawthorn, wild cherry, mountain ash trees. There is a blanket TPO throughout listing "multiple species". It covers about 6 acres.

We haven't finished discussing the maintenance but we wish to keep the woods as one and share costs. We are wondering about our liabilities as owners? A public footpath runs adjacent to the boundary on two sides and there are roads within tree-height distance. I understand Public Liability Insurance and a once every three years inspection of trees close to the boundary would absolve us from liability. Is this about right?


Thanks also to Rankinswood for the pm. I can't reply. I guess I haven't made enough posts yet.... But in reply, I'm in the deep South close to the coast between Pompey & So'ton, so not very close to Basingstoke.