Traffic halted to let work crew tackle JK Rowling's massive Leylandii hedge

HARRY Potter author JK Rowling had part of a road closed to traffic - so she could work her magic on a massive hedge surrounding her mansion.
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The 30 foot tall Leylandii hedge towers over pavements near her 17th century home and helps to screen the property from onlookers.

They required trimming after claims last year that they obstructed street lights.

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A team of tree surgeons has spent all this week trimming the hedge back at the top and sides using an 80ft cherry picker.

Traffic halted to let work crew tackle JK Rowling's massive Leylandii hedgeTraffic halted to let work crew tackle JK Rowling's massive Leylandii hedge
Traffic halted to let work crew tackle JK Rowling's massive Leylandii hedge

Temporary four-way traffic lights have been set up and a stretch of carriageway closed to allow the work to go ahead.

Workers could be seen feeding branches into a shredder.

The work comes more than a year after officials from Edinburgh City Council wrote to Miss Rowling to ask her to have the trees trimmed as a "matter of urgency".

Miss Rowling had already been planning to take action and tree surgeons submitted a planning application to the local authority on her behalf.

Massive Leylandii 
Pic Lisa FergusonMassive Leylandii 
Pic Lisa Ferguson
Massive Leylandii Pic Lisa Ferguson
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The programme of works suggested by them was given the green light by planning officials on July 10 last year.

An application for a Road Occupation Permit was made last October and granted. It was also agreed to have the four-way temporary traffic lights plus a pedestrian facility put in place.

Edinburgh City Council confirmed that the cutting was recommended for during school holidays, but was postponed at the time as it clashed with public utilities works in surrounding streets.

It was postponed again due to lockdown and rescheduled for the current October school holidays.

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The work is a necessary step because the property is in a conservation area. The Leylandii hedge is also protected by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO).

The council said standard conditions allowed two years for the work to TPO trees to be carried out, so the current works are "well within this timescale".

The Road Occupation Permit runs from October 19-25, but an extension could be granted if more time is needed. The Council added: "safety is our primary concern".

Miss Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone -- the first of the series -- largely in cafes in Edinburgh.

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Published by Bloomsbury in June 1997, only 500 copies were produced in the first edition.

It would go on to become the most successful book, and franchise, in publishing history while Miss Rowling became the world's first billionaire author.

The world record for one of the rare first edition copies of the original Potter novel at auction was set in December 2018 when a signed copy made £127,565 at Christie's in New York. In March this year, another copy, inscribed by Rowling to Bryony Evens, "the first person to see merit in Harry Potter", fetched £118,812 at Bonhams in London.

There are 55 million Leylandii in the UK with thousands of people locked in disputes over the giant hedges. In 2003 a hedge led to the death of two men. Robert Dickenson, 52, was arrested after allegedly shooting dead his neighbour, 66-year-old George Wilson in Lincoln. Dickenson was found hanged in prison where he was waiting to appear in court on a murder charge.

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