A NEIGHBOURHOOD dispute over a huge gumtree in Spearwood has turned nasty, with large sections mysteriously dying off.

The owner of the tree, who only wanted to be known as Elizabeth, believes a neighbour in a stink over falling branches has poisoned the giant, but she’s finding it difficult to get authorities to take her seriously.

Elizabeth claims to have been laughed at by a Cockburn council staffer when she reported her suspicions because she’d dobbed other neighbours in over the years for things like overgrown backyards.

Her son Gary says two neighbours had previously chopped large branches from the tree without permission, which they’d tolerated, but the latest incident had gone too far.

He says his mum’s previously been threatened by the neighbours while he was at sea working as a fisherman.

A keen gardener, Elizabeth says she’s devastated by the damage to the tree. Cutting it back will see much of the shade from her backyard gone. As a pensioner, she doesn’t know how she’ll pay for it.

She says part of the problem is that when she moved in 30-odd years ago there were only four houses in the whole area, but as infill kicked in they got closer and the lots smaller.

Cockburn council’s chief engineer Charles Sullivan says they get about a dozen requests to deal with disputes about overhanging branches and leaf litter each year, but he doesn’t think that’s been affected by infill.

Planning director Daniel Arndt says most complaints are from neighbours upset about trees being cut down for development.

But a report from Monash University warns that clashes over backyard canopies are likely to increase because of infill, but planners aren’t addressing the issue.

by STEVE GRANT