JK Rowling in furious row with locals as hedge at £2.2m home ‘making kids late’ for school
Fuming parents have complained that their regular five-minute school run has turned into a 30-minute long journey because of road closures surrounding JK Rowling's home.
Trimming a towering hedge around author JK Rowling’s £2.2mn home has allegedly led to parents being late for the school drop-off.
The work has disrupted the local road infrastructure, with the road being closed for up to a week, so the hedge, next to her 17th-century home in Edinburgh, can be trimmed.
The cutting of the bushes has led to temporary traffic lights being installed, so workers can operate a cherry-picker to tackle the difficult parts.
But this includes workers setting up at 7.30am, and it is "interfering" with the school run for parents taking children to and from a nearby primary school.
One mother spoke to the Times about her increased journey times: "To cause traffic to come to a standstill at rush hour to cut a hedge doesn’t make sense. [It has resulted] in my child and many others being late."
She added: "I can’t understand why the work can’t be done at the weekend or like 9.30am until 2.30pm. This happens a couple of times a year and is unreasonable."
This is not the first time the Harry Potter author has received a complaint from neighbours.
In 2011 she received planning permission to demolish the Seventies house next door to her property, which she had bought for £1million, to make way for a garden extension.
A year later Rowling applied to build two "Hogwarts-style" tree houses in her garden, as reported in the Times. Edinburgh City Council permitted the £250,000 project to go ahead despite objections from neighbours.
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Ms Rowling’s representatives insisted that the hedge-trimming happened every year and that the traffic lights are necessary for safety.A spokesperson said: "The hedge cutting at JK Rowling’s residence is annual maintenance that involves necessary traffic management for the safety of the general public.
“The intention is always to carry out the work with least disruption and the timing requires co-ordination and agreement with Edinburgh City Council. The work would ideally be scheduled in July, during the summer holidays, but due to other
maintenance work in the area, it was agreed to take place this week instead.”
This is also not the first time disruption has happened because of hedge trimming works around the author's home.
In 2019, officials from the council wrote to the author asking her to have the hedge at her home trimmed as a "matter of urgency".
More than a year later an 80ft cherry-picker was used to cut the greenery back to prevent it from blocking street lights.
In July 2022, a road closure to cut Rowling’s 30ft hedge also led to a bus stop being temporarily removed.
Express.co.uk has contacted Edinburgh City Council for comment.