I was in two minds as to whether to take it off now or next year, but as you have said it will only benefit the tree I shall leave it till next year now. Thank you for the reply.
I was under the impression that a trees roots supply the branches, so removing a branch would divert the water (and whatever else roots take in!) from that branch, to the rest of the tree..I do understand that removing foliage means less photosynthesis though too. The branch in question has very little foliage until the very end, it almost looks a bit dead until this point.
Did you say you cannot see the photo?