Fred the Shredded Hedge: Shamed bank boss Goodwin has his treasured 25ft Leylandii hacked down to size by angry neighbours

  • Former RBS boss has been in four-year feud with neighbours over hedge
  • Residents took action after getting fed up 'waiting for decision to be made'
  • Neighbours complained it was blocking light into their own gardens
  • They used a chainsaw to chop it down to same height as their own fences

By Gemma Hartley

PUBLISHED: 12:25 EST, 22 March 2014 | UPDATED: 13:18 EST, 22 March 2014

IF it’s not hedge funds, it’s hedges.

Shamed former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin has suffered a shredding at the hands of the opposition in a lengthy row over shrubbery.

Long-suffering neighbours of the disgraced financier have lost patience and taken a chainsaw to part of the massive hedge at the centre of a row in an exclusive Edinburgh suburb.

Before: The 25ft hedge before neighbours hacked it down with chainsaws
After: The leylandii hedge after being chopped back by Fred Goodwin's neighbours

Before and after: The double-layer 25ft Leylandii hedge stood tall, left, before it was chopped down to the same height as other fences in the area, right, by neighbours who wanted to let more light into their gardens

Mr Goodwin has been feuding with Colinton neighbours for more than four years over the double-layer, 25ft Leylandii hedge at his property in an area where houses can cost £3.5million

Mr Goodwin has been feuding with Colinton neighbours for more than four years over the double-layer, 25ft Leylandii hedge at his property in an area where houses can cost £3.5million

Mr Goodwin has been feuding with Colinton neighbours for more than four years over the double-layer, 25ft Leylandii hedge at his property in an area where houses can cost £3.5million.

A new law is due to come into force in April empowering councils to make and enforce decisions in relation to hedge disputes.

But some neighbours decided not to wait and chopped down the nearest layer of Leylandii in a bid to let light into their gardens.

 

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One resident, who asked not to be named, confirmed: ‘Some of the residents have taken matters in their own hands and just cut them down.

‘I think they just took a chainsaw to the hedge and did it themselves, they just got fed up of waiting for a decision to be made.

‘The first row of Leylandii is directly connected to the fences of the residents’ houses and that is the ones that have been cut. Ideally they want to cut the hedge down to the same height of their own fences – so to just a few metres high.

Fred Goodwin treasures the 25ft Leylandii hedge which is situated at the back of the home and a tennis court owned by the former Royal Bank of Scotland boss

Fred Goodwin treasures the 25ft Leylandii hedge which is situated at the back of the home and a tennis court owned by the former Royal Bank of Scotland boss

Long-suffering neighbours of the disgraced financier have lost patience and taken a chainsaw to part of the massive hedge at the centre of a row in an exclusive Edinburgh suburb

Long-suffering neighbours of the disgraced financier have lost patience and taken a chainsaw to part of the massive hedge at the centre of a row in an exclusive Edinburgh suburb

‘It doesn’t look very nice as you can see all the dead Leylandii now that has not been able to grow due to no sunlight, that needs to get cut down as well.’

Mr Goodwin bought the exclusive six-bedroom home – built by football legend Graeme Souness – in June 2011 after his property in the nearby Grange district was  targeted by vandals.

After he split from his estranged wife, Joyce, she remained at the new address and although efforts have been made recently to reduce the size of the hedge, neighbours still believe it is too high.

Another resident said: ‘She should just pay to have it cut down.

Fred Goodwin resigned in October 2008 before the bank revealed losses of £24.1billion - the largest annual loss in UK corporate history
Mr Goodwin became one of Scotland¿s best-known figures after his career in banking took off in 2000 and he presided over the Royal Bank of Scotland¿s rapid rise to global prominence with assets of £1.9trillion

Fred Goodwin became one of Scotland’s best-known figures after his career in banking took off in 2000 and he presided over the Royal Bank of Scotland’s rapid rise to global prominence with assets of £1.9trillion

‘We will try and talk with her before we begin arbitration – we should be able to enter one together as residents and split the cost.

‘Why we, the innocent party have to pay, I don’t know, but we will as this dispute needs to be settled.’

They plan to be one of the first groups in Scotland to take action under the new High Hedges  (Scotland) Act.

The legislation gives councils the right to force homeowners to cut hedges which are more than 6ft 6in tall if they form a barrier to light.

THE RISE AND FALL OF GOODWIN

Fred Goodwin became one of Scotland’s best-known figures after his career in banking took off in 2000.

He presided over the Royal Bank of Scotland’s rapid rise to global prominence with assets of £1.9trillion.

However, he resigned in October 2008 before the bank revealed losses of £24.1billion – the largest annual loss in UK corporate history.

His time in charge of the Royal Bank of Scotland left the taxpayer with a multi-billion-pound bail-out bill and earned him the nickname 'Fred the Shred'.

He was criticised for lavish overspending while the bank ran up huge losses.

And he was vilified after it emerged that he received a pension of £703,000 a year, later reduced to £342,000.

The knighthood awarded to him for ‘services to banking’ was annulled two years ago.

Local authorities can enforce cutting orders, if owners do not have the work carried out themselves.

They can then charge up to £500 to carry out the work if the homeowner does not complete it at their own expense.

When asked for comment Joyce Goodwin, speaking on an intercom at the Colinton mansion, said:

‘What hedge?’ She then hung up.

The High Hedges Bill was lodged by Mark McDonald, Nationalist MSP for Aberdeen Donside, at the Scottish parliament in 2012 – ten years after action was first suggested by former Dunfermline West Labour MSP Scott Barrie.

Under the law, which was passed by MSPs in 2013, a high hedge is classed as being formed wholly or mainly by a row of two or more evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs which exceed two metres (6.5ft) in height and which forms a barrier to light.

When the law comes into effect on April 1, owners will be required to take steps to resolve any dispute with their neighbours before they contact their local authority for help.

If they apply for a ‘high hedge notice’, councils are expected to charge between £325 and £500 for the service.

When the Bill was first proposed, it was estimated that there were about 5,000 problem cases in Scotland.

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Can't stand the little man, well done would of done the same !!

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I'd love to stick the top of the Leylandi somewhere that Fred uses to talk out of! This bloke singlehanded (with Browns help) screwed up global economies! I'm amazed the bloke is allowed to own a house!

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Why is this individual living in an ''exclusive'' suburb? I would accommodate him in an even more exclusive place ... one of the dungeons in Edinburgh Castle.

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Good it was far too fall

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Did he deliberately grow them that high to annoy his neighbours? What a plonker, I'm glad he's not living next to me.

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Poor Fred first his pension is halved and now his hedge fund is decimated. The public sympathy will be deafening.......NOT.

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Pity they didn't take a chain saw to his pension while they were at it.

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Quite right!

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Well done cut them down

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A good business man but a crap banker,my wife has more banking qualifications than him and would have made a better job of running the bank than him,but he was a good businessman just not in banking it was above him

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