Overhanging Trees from Neighbour

[Udhi]

I think your queries are best directed to the council as they would have dealt with onerous neighbors like this all the time. They should advice decisively.

The branches do need to be returned back to them. I would strongly advise you not to dispose of them yourself (throw or sell or give away) - it might be technically theft or handling stolen goods, all depends on the jobsworth who picks up the complaint.

When you drop it off over the fence, make sure it doesn't drop on their beloved petunias or whatever, it could end up getting leveraged as criminal damage.

 

[robinbanks]

I do wish people would stop saying "cut em off and throw them over the fence". It's so much more effort and much higher risk of irritating someone the OP then has to live next door to for X years, than "hi neighbour, I'd like to cut those overhanging branches back, but legally they're your property - do you want them and where should I put them, or would you like to me dispose of them?" - this approach is so much more likely to get on good terms with an elderly neighbour who may lack the strength/health to deal with the problem created by launching a huge pile of wood into their garden

 

[Odds]

I do wish people would stop saying "cut em off and throw them over the fence". It's so much more effort and much higher risk of irritating someone the OP then has to live next door to for X years, than "hi neighbour, I'd like to cut those overhanging branches back, but legally they're your property - do you want them and where should I put them, or would you like to me dispose of them?" - this approach is so much more likely to get on good terms with an elderly neighbour who may lack the strength/health to deal with the problem created by launching a huge pile of wood into their garden

In the OP it states the neighbour initially agreed to keep the trees tidy, then changed his mind and left it to the OP to deal with his neighbour's trees - planted too closely to a fence that isn't his.
I see this all the time and it's annoying to have to deal with trees planted like this, especially conifers that spread like a fat man on a small aircraft.
The OP has already said it'll be difficult for them to deal with the waste and i wonder why the neighbour changed his mind: was it due to infirmity, or laziness, or the age-old manner of making it 'someone else's problem'?
The neighbour planted those trees, and it's their responsibility to bloody well keep 'em tidy, IMO.