FOLLOWING delays blamed on nesting birds, a problem conifer is finally facing the axe.

Horace Bingham has been pressing Middlesbrough Council for several months to remove the tree from his back garden.

Since he moved into Darwen Court, Hemlington, the giant conifer has cast a shadow over his life.

Mr Bingham said: "The tree has really come to play a big part in my life recently. It is just 20ft from my back door."

He said that his wife, Brenda, has great difficulty walking. This is a condition that has been exacerbated, he said, by the pine needles dropping from the tree.

Mr Bingham said that when wet, the needles were slippery underfoot. He said: "There is also a lot of nuisance from the insects that live in the tree.

"It casts a huge shadow across the back of the house and if there was a strong wind there is a danger the tree could be blown down.

"It is a nice tree but it is simply in the wrong place."

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said the tree was too big and too close to the house.

It was agreed earlier this year to fell the tree but the work was put on hold because birds may have been nesting in it.

He said: "It has been a question of when, not if, we fell the tree. It is coming down in the first week of September."