Is it me or is this world going mad!?!

My friendly building inspector has just informed me our foundations needs to be deeper, a lot deeper, very very very deep.. 2.7 meters kind of deep. Yes 2.7 meters, 2700 cm, 106 inchs, 8.8 feet... argh!

Apparently its because of the hedge and the clay. 

It goes like this... the hedge or trees (conifers actually) can drain the water out of the ground making the clay crack which could cause long term subsidence. The trees could also grow to 200 foot! I could also win the lottery tonight or retire at the age of 32 (in 6 days time) BUT its never going to happen!

Or, this is good, wait for it... I can chop all the trees down, prove they are dead and then "only" dig 1.5 meters deep. 

Oh and its all got to be 600cm wide now... because of the clay, not the trees this time, its clearly the clays fault.

Now I've gotten all that off my chest and have almost recovered from shock I'm going to ask politely for a second opinion.

PS: For the records, conifer roots do not thicken over a period of years they are not like trees with deciduous root systems.