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Telegraph.co.uk

Saturday 29 April 2017 | UK News feed

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Cilla Black 'is a neighbour from hell'

Cilla Black
Cilla Black: not popular with the neighbours 

Police were called to the £2 million home of Cilla Black amid reports that a disgruntled neighbour had lopped the top off a tree in the grounds of her home.

District councillors have begun an investigation into the incident as other neighbours in the village criticised the former Blind Date host, whose trees, they claim, overhang their gardens and rob them of daylight.

One villager called the trees "a nightmare", while another described Black as the "neighbour from hell".

The alarm appeared to have been raised by the television personality's gardener, who is understood to have caught the culprits in the act of axing one of the dozens of protected trees that surround Black's 17-acre grounds in Denham, Buckinghamshire.

All that remained of the tree yesterday was a bare, 20ft-high trunk, cut at the level of the neighbouring house wall.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: "Police were called out yesterday morning to an address in Denham after reports of trees which currently have preservation orders on them being cut down and that the individuals operating on the trees when confronted were aggressive.

"Police officers attended the scene to ensure there was no breach of the peace while appropriate officers from the council made their way to the location.

"The matter is a civil matter, which is now being investigated by South Buckinghamshire district council."

Neither Black nor the neighbour allegedly responsible would comment yesterday. But others were less reticent.

Gary Byrne said the former singer's trees were a "nightmare". He added: "They are so high and they overhang so much that I don't get any light in my garden. It's the same for most people along here.

"So I don't blame the bloke for doing what he did in chopping one down. I would happily do the same myself.

"I have asked on many occasions, very politely, for her to have them cut back, but each time my requests are refused. They keep telling me it is for security reasons. But Cilla already has a fence with barbed wire on it protecting her grounds."

A local woman, who asked not to be named, said Black was not popular with neighbours, referring to the star's 60th birthday party, which allegedly went on into the small hours.

"Let's just say that she's not that well liked, what with the trees, fencing and the party she had a couple of years ago," the woman said. "She's a bit like those neighbours from hell you see on television."

Tree officers attended the scene, and a council spokesman confirmed that an investigation was under way. Black's spokesman would say only that it was "a private matter".

It is not the first time that Black, who has three other properties including one in London and one in Barbados, has fallen out with the residents of Denham since buying the 10-bedroom home in 1970.

She was reported to the parish council 10 years ago over allegations that she was digging a lake at her property without planning permission.

More recently she lost jewellery valued at £1 million in a raid on the house.

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