- A billionaire will close a road for two weeks to lift trees into the garden of his London mansion.
- Ivy restaurant owner Richard Caring won permission from local authorities to close the road.
- The move has angered locals, with one resident saying he feels like he living behind a "barricade."
A billionaire has angered his wealthy neighbors by winning permission to partly close a street for two weeks so a crane can hoist dozens of trees into his garden, a report says.
The Guardian reported that Richard Caring, the owner of exclusive London restaurant The Ivy and private members' club Annabel's, won permission from his local council to close part of Onslow Square in South Kensington, west London, for up to two weeks to winch trees into his £40 million ($46.7 million) mansion.
Caring, who is worth just over £1 billion ($1.2 billion), plans to use a crane to lift the trees over his house in a process that will take about a fortnight.
His plan has caused uproar among locals, according to the Guardian.
"It is absolutely wrong that a single man, with a huge fortune is able to disrupt the lives of thousands of people," David Erb, a software developer who lives in a property overlooking the mansion, told the newspaper.
"They often close off the pavement as well and it's beginning to feel a bit like we live behind a barricade."
Four bus routes have been diverted due to the closure, while the road is also used by ambulances, per the Guardian.
A spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea told London's Evening Standard that anyone could apply for a road closure, and that it couldn't unreasonably deny those requests despite the ensuing disruption.
"In this case, we publicized the closure in local media and on our website several weeks in advance and the applicant hand-delivered a letter to more than 600 homes in the area," the spokesperson said. "We also encouraged the applicant to carry out the work during the school holidays to avoid disrupting school traffic and informed Transport for London and the emergency services of the planned closure."
Representatives for Caring didn't immediately respond for comment.
