A GARAGE and car have been badly damaged after a tree came down in residential area of Highcliffe last night.

A large tree, measuring approximately 50ft tall, on the path by Bure Brook fell onto a tiled roof building behind a property on Knightwood Close during the night on Wednesday October 20.

This comes as overnight torrential rain and high winds have battered the south coast over the past few days, causing flooding and multiple trees to come down.

A neighbour to the affected property said: “The tree had fallen on top of his car and the window is seriously cracked and the bodywork is damaged too.

“It happened during the night, but I don’t know exactly when. We didn’t hear anything or know about it until this morning.

“The tree roots are rotten, and the tree is now partially in the brook. It must have been a combination of the water flow, as the river was pretty high last night, under washing some of the soil away and the rotten roots.”

The tree is currently obstructing the path leading to Bure Brook, which is a popular walkway for dog walkers in the area.

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However, residents say there are question marks over the ownership of the land where the tree was situated, and therefore who should, deal with clearing the fallen tree.

“The things is we have got a neighbourhood group that have been looking at that section of the brook for a while with the view of parish council doing something about it,” added the neighbour.

“But they went to BCP Council, and they don’t know who owns it.

“It is the second one in the same area this year. Earlier this year, a smaller tree came down and broke the same fence and it caused significant damage.”

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Now the resident in Knightswood Close is worried that his property could be next.

He said: “We has a meeting with the council about this and a whole group of trees were surveyed. I have got one, a silver birch, which is leaning over into our property. It think it has grown that way but if that came down, it would hit our house.

“We know there is honey fungus in the area because a couple of other trees have got it.

“We hope it gets cleared soon, whether it is today or tomorrow. When they were contacted last time, it took them almost a fortnight before they came out to deal with it.”

The owner of the property has reportedly contacted the council to have the tree cleared.

BCP Council have been approached for comment regarding the issue.