A fresh dispatch from the great leylandii war was noted this week, with news of yet another epic neighbourly dispute being triggered by the fast-growing, controversial cypress.
David Alvand, a civil engineer living in Plymouth, is battling with his neighbours over some leylandii he planted in his front garden in 1991, which have now topped 10m. The trees are reaching over on to his neighbour's roof and guttering, as well as casting near-permanent shade over his lawn.
"High hedges" are now policed according to the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, although the provisions available to local authorities are far less strict than is often assumed. A local authority will not automatically chop down a hedge over 2m tall, nor does it have the power to issue an offender with an Asbo.
The Collins Tree Guide describes leylandii as "the most hated garden tree". Perhaps the best-known example of a leylandii-induced hate crime came in 2005 when a 72-year-old man from Lincolnshire was sentenced to one day's custody after being convicted of persistently urinating against his neighbour's leylandii in an attempt to kill it. The victim (the owner, not the tree) caught him on his camcorder.
Michael Jones, a retired teacher from Birmingham, spent some 20 years trying to get his neighbour to cut back his 10.5m leylandii. He ultimately won the case, by which time court costs were £100,000. And in 2003, five tree blazes were reported in the Cumbrian village of Scotby, with police describing the attacks as "one person's war against the leylandii".
The tallest leylandii is said to be a 130ft specimen in southern England. Thankfully, it's standing in an arboretum rather than between two houses.
