What to do with a Sycamore tree?

[Alice]

Jings IgglePiggle, if the tree is growing out of a wall it is already causing damage, is potentially dangerous (that wall could fall on someone) and is certain to be an even bigger problem in the future. I think you have a cast iron case and I would contact the Council.

[snohare]

Sycamores are an invasive species, and as you've discovered already are notorious to kill as long as they are getting sunlight and water. Copper nails will kill any tree - but you need to have enough of them. How many that would be, I don't know. (Where do you buy copper nails, anyway ? A ship's chandlers ? Get another mortgage...) If you did put them in, you would have to put them in very low down - because the idea of a Husquvarna chainsaw hitting nails embedded in a tree, even copper ones, just doesn't bear thinking about. (How good are your first aid skills ? 'Cos if the tree feller didn't get injured when his chain gave up, he would want to give somebody a good thrashing - it wouldn't just be his nylon that was ballistic.)
I reckon there is an easy way around this. The trees are no doubt heavily implicated in damage to the retaining wall. That's just what sycamores do, it is practically their raison d'etre. Fire off a letter to the council saying that this is happening, and you consider them liable for any costs arising, not to mention the safety aspect. They will suddenly find they aren't that fond of sycamores anyway, they will have met this problem before. (Tree preservation orders and the like are flexible, and sycamores are not really considered of high wildlife value, good for lichens in pristine air quality areas only. What the council is worried about is just a housing area ending up with no trees at all.)
What you then may well find is that the council will immediately (as much as they do immediately) tell you fine, you can chop down the tree. Neglecting of course to acknowledge that you must pay for this if you do it. You tell them, "No, it is your tree, you have staff and insurance, you do it." If you pony up for a solicitor's letter, they may not even argue; if they do, expect a protracted negotiation while they come to admit that yes, their property means their legal responsibility. From their point of view, if the wall is not falling down yet, they will happily wait for you to cave in. You might have to keep sending revised estimates for the repair bill.
The tree that sways a lot in the wind is very likely not unstable - quite the opposite, it needs to have good roots to anchor it, it is a healthy dynamic equilibrium.
As for you felling the V tree, depending on size and location, it might be really easy. As Starloc showed, it is possible to do it piecemeal, climbing up and lopping. (Not advisable with a chainsaw.) It isn't rocket science, I have felled forty footers by hand saw; the problems arise when you have a lot of unbalanced weight high up - trees that have double trunks usually are asymmetrical, beyond a certain size they are well iffy - or when you have expensive properties nearby. Neighbours can be really helpful, or get really nervous ! Public liability insurance is what costs a fortune for tree surgeons, that and the knowhow that when the tree grows in certain ways it has denser wood on one side which affects how the trunk or limb falls if it splits off early...
If the council complain about the loss of the tree, remind them it is a sycamore. It is the arboreal equivalent of couch grass. Shoots will sprout from the stump, even if it is right back to the ground. You would of course be aiming to apply stump killer to it, not that you'd tell them that, but frankly with a sycamore - don't get your hopes up too much. It is likely to take repeated applications.
Btw, a spaghetti hat and chainsaw is the fastest way out of a council tenancy anywhere in the UK I know of. Just about anything that will generate headlines in the Daily Mail will do this.The instant they can prove you are a hazard to neighbours, you are offski.
[/and breath]

[Two_Sheds]

Even if you kill the tree, it still has to be cut down and taken away ... before it falls on someone, or on your house.

[Eco-Chic]

Drill holes around the base and poison it with brush killer.

[GrubbyGirl]

I've just seen a posting on my local freecycle for someone offering to fell trees as long as he can keep the wood for burning. Maybe worth putting a "wanted" post on freecycle and see if someone will come and chop it down for nothing!

Angela

[Adam1407]

I hate the damn things, but was lucky enough to get a council house with one in Well I say one but its kinda a V shape so get 2, lucky me! Everytime I look out of the window its like its sticking its fingers up at me lol. I don't know what I can do with it, can't put a climber up it as there is nothing really for them to cling to. Don't want to put ivy up it as I hate that too! Not sure if I can get it cut down as its a council house, plus it costs loads to get a tree cut down don't it?

[/and breath]

Any idea's?

It took us TWELVE years for our housing associaton to accept that the sycamore was THEIR responsibility! The flaming thing was planted by the original tenant before my partner and I were even twinkles in our respective fathers' eye! However, it finally went last month.

Be warned though, it will depend on what it says in your tenancy agreement - our's states that we're responsible for the garden, but is vague on the subject of trees; it was only a different inspector that decided that what we had been told all that time was wrong. Coincidentally, this decision was reached after I contacted a solicitor and my neighbours made a "complaint" - that we had not been discussed with them at all and there was NO collusion whatsoever...

They have left the stump, which we have noticed this morning has given off a shoot, so I am now looking for ways to kill it. (Hence my search today).

Prior to this, we did get a quote for about £400-£500...

Hope this helps.