Can wood be 'damaged'?

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Besides the very premise that cutting down trees to have some decorations is environmental... damage, in itself (humanity never ceases to amaze me with its ret*d hypocrisy)... the local council here hates me so much it's going to take me to court for... spraying, wood, using Criminal Damage Act 1971. Not hacking it to death, no, that's what they do. Of course, there's this one clause that states that it's fine if it's protecting another property, but apparently wood is sacred as it 'belongs' to the council, whereas my flat and sanity disposable, I suppose. If I lose this I swear injustice would have reached epic proportions, at least in my horrid life...

I doubt that anyone gathered here can understand your sad story.

Much as we would like to extend sympathy.

Okay- you "sprayed" "wood".

Was this wood part of a wooden structure? Or was it a living a tree? Was it your property? Or what?

Did you spray paint a living tree with red paint?

If you used a defoliant like Agent Orange I can see why they be pissed.

Please supply more info before we can to respond helpfully. What wood or tree did you spray and why?

Did you try to poison the council's official Christmas tree and send it to the great forest in the sky?

How did the council get involved in it?

If the the wood is living, (IE, it's a tree) and that tree doesn't belong to you then you will be held liable for any damages that you commit on it. Converversely, if the tree or trees as could possibly be the case are yours, and on your property, then the council has no business in your affairs, and they can just f*** off. --What are you spraying them with? Water? Tar? Paint? Roundup?

I think he is asking: Does paint actually damage wood?

Vandalism:
action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.

Which isn't pertinent to that law. If you spray council/public property you are damaging that property to the extent it devalues it or the overall property. Whether it harms the tree or not is irrelevant.

If he uses that defense that it didn't damage there tree he is likely to loose. The only argument that he could possibly use is that he used some non-permanent which would mitigate the overall cost of putting it right.

Painting your own wooden door another color is one thing.
Painting your neighbor's wooden door another color without your neighbor's permission is something else.

Painting a living tree is something else again ( your own tree, someone else's tree, etc).

Painting provocative slogans, and symbols, on wooden structures owned by others is another issue again.


But apparently the OP has lost interest in the subject. He has not returned to this thread that he started.

Can anyone really "own" a tree, man?

A tree is what this pot made of wood was originally. It's the same kind of spray someone like Banksy probably uses, although I merely intended to convey a message (in an attempt to get people to stop kicking balls on the aforementioned wood, which when misses ends up hitting my flat - section 5 (b) of the relevant act is clearly my defense, which is still an ongoing issue).

I think we need a translator here. Someone who knows both UK English, and American English.

So there is this big out door container (like a barrel?) made of wood. And folks kick balls into it? And they often miss and the balls slam into your apartment? So you spray painted an angry dirty message on this barrel thing?

I think you have nailed it NP.

As for the OP, if you have sprayed a message on to council owned property then yes, it has been damaged as someone will need to either repaint it or clean it. You have my sympathy for your problem but there has to be an alternative.

Afraid I'm not going to search for specific parts of law when it's unclear what offence you have committed.

Section section 5 (b) doesn't apply because the damage doesn't prevent imminent damage or threat to your property.

Even if you believed that such such a sign could prevent damage, it is the destruction that is being tested. The wall itself protect your property to an extent. You are not going to convince anyone that writing a message without permission would over you any greater defense to *imminent* damage and there was no other way of dealing with the situation that would be as effective if not more.

You choose to take matters into you own hands Had you mentioned it to the council or residents association it is quite likely they would have recommend a no ball games sign like i have in my estate. As to if these are an effective mean or no depends on who is using the space and if the residents have control over that.