09 June,2011 07:47 AM IST | | Agencies
Harry Potter author gets permission to demolish house next door
For most people, buying a million-pound home in an upmarket suburb represents a far-fetched dream or the culmination of decades of hard work.
But when you are the world's most successful author and worth ufffd530 million (Rs 3,880 crore), you can afford to spend a fortune on such a property with the sole intention of demolishing it.
J K Rowling, the writer of the Harry Potter series, has been given planning permission to flatten a ufffd1 million (Rs 7.3 crore) house next door to her mansion to make her garden larger.
She also wants to build a summer house that bears a striking resemblance to the stone hut inhabited by Hagrid, the giant groundsman from her novels about the child wizard.
Confirmation that council officials have given the proposals the green light emerged only a day after reports that Rowling has bought a ufffd6.5 million historical house in rural Tasmania.
There have been no formal objections from conservation bodies to the demolition of the 1970s home in a wealthy suburb of Edinburgh.
The plans have drawn comment from other residents in her cul-de-sac, which is in a conservation area, with a public meeting being held to discuss the application.
"It is not every day you hear someone seeking approval from their neighbours to flatten a ufffd1m house to make their garden bigger," one resident told the gathering.
Rowling (45) owns a 17th-century mansion that she and her husband, Dr Neil Murray, reportedly bought for ufffd2 million around 18 months ago.
They share the property with 18-year-old daughter, Jessica, from her first marriage, David (8) and Mackenzie (6). Solicitors for the couple were asked to detail which buildings were to be demolished after submitting an incomplete application.
It emerged she wants to knock down the neighbouring house to make way for a Renaissance-style garden complete with greenhouse.
The "garden room" folly will feature stone steps up to the front door, a 30ft-high conical roof and a chimney. She also wants to relocate a sundial.
Workmen were yesterday busy in the grounds of her mansion. The sound of hammering, cement mixers and diggers could be heard and her entire garden had been dug up.
A neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said, "I don't have any problem with what's going on. We have a good relationship with her so we are quite happy with everything."
Did you know?
Upon finishing the seventh Harry Potter novel while staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Scotland, Rowling wrote on a bust in her room "JK Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11th Jan 2007."
