David and Victoria Beckham own an enviable pair of properties: a spectacular Cotswolds estate and a gorgeous Holland Park pad. Remarkably, both homes have hit the headlines due to grand plans that caused controversy with their neighbours. In the latest development, the famous couple has won a planning battle to transform an outbuilding into multiple home offices, presumably where they'll run their multimillion-dollar empire from. Click or scroll to discover the legal highs and lows that have gone into creating their incredible homes... and find out what their neighbours really think about them.
The high-profile pair submitted an application to turn the loft of an existing 'gardener's store' at their sprawling home in Great Tew, Oxfordshire into three separate offices at the beginning of August, according to plans submitted to West Oxfordshire District Council. As we can see from this diagram, which formed part of their planning application, the former footballer and his singer-turned-fashion designer wife are going to add a bathroom, internal and external stairs, and two heritage conservation Velux windows, as well as the new workspaces. There will also be a single garage space at the rear, accessible through double oak doors.
While there were no objections to this specific application, a similar previous plan drew ire from one particularly peeved local, who according to The Sun complained: “Surely this is just a back-door way of trying to turn this barn into a residential property. It is a barn and should remain so.” According to planning documents, the couple built the garden store along with a security cabin after they won planning approval in October 2022. The Beckhams – who have a combined net worth of £371 million ($450m) – have applied for extensive additions and alterations to their Grade II-listed home since buying it in 2016 for £6.1 million ($7.4m), stirring up plenty of animosity in the process.
Over the years, David and Victoria have added a football pitch with spectator stand, an outdoor pool, a sauna, a raised kitchen garden and greenhouse, as well as this enormous kidney-shaped lake, complete with its own island and bridge. The home is now estimated to be worth an eye-watering £12 million ($14.7m). A recent application for a temporary access road was seen by some locals as an attempt to gain "a longer drive into their property," according to The Sun. Another complaint submitted to West Oxfordshire District Council accused the couple of "bringing in suburbia" and mocked their promise to recreate a classic English meadow scene. "Capability Brown would never have designed a garden with such features". "Classic English? I don’t think so. I am surprised they have not applied for a funfair ride to be installed." The Beckhams quietly withdrew their request to build the road.
But it's not just their Chipping Norton neighbours the pair have crossed swords with. They also upset Holland Park residents over plans to modernise their London home, which they bought for a whopping £31.5 million ($39m) in 2013. The Beckhams had big plans to 'spice up' their five-storey mansion, submitting 50 planning applications. Visions included an extended wine cellar, gym, giant cinema screen and six renovated bedrooms. The air-con, which the couple intended to install in five rooms, was also a sticking point. Their neighbour insisted plans would affect the historic character of the house and surrounding properties, not least due to "noise, vibration, dirt, pollution and dust" caused by construction.
The showbiz pair kept cool heads, though, and eventually their lofty plans won out. The designs were approved with the council conceding they would have little impact on surrounding properties. The pair's renovation plans were fulfilled for a reported £8 million ($9.7m) and they rounded off the interiors with a monochrome scheme and marble finishes, such as this staircase connecting the five glittering storeys.
In a recent development, the Beckhams are having to appeal to the council once again after they discovered their home was: "In poor structural condition due to wear resulting from age." A raised terrace is so close to collapsing that the couple had to seal off access to it, according to The Daily Mail. However, because the building is Grade II-listed, they will need council approval for the works. The property is now purportedly worth upwards of £40 million ($48.6m), not least because of its sought-after location in Holland Park. The star-studded postcode is shared by big names such as Simon Cowell and Elton John.
From Robbie Williams' ongoing feud with Jimmy Page to Ed Sheeran's thwarted chapel, we reveal the bitter planning battles of these showbiz heavyweights...
The property plans of the rich and famous often seem wacky to the rest of us – and these ambitious ideas don't always come to fruition without a fight. Even the top-tier A-listers have to abide by planning laws and they too can fall foul of the red tape around undertaking major building projects. As with any renovation, it is very important to get your neighbours on your side; something that might have prevented enduring planning feuds and fiascos. Read on to find out who's winning and who's losing in these high profile property battles...
Entertainer Robbie Williams is no stranger to scandal. His controversial comments and devil-may-care attitude has landed him in hot water in the past. But while the former Take That star has a talent for shrugging off backlash, it seems he has met his match in Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. The musical pair have been locked in battle since 2013 over changes Williams wanted to make to his London home.
The 'Angels' singer planned to install a basement in his Grade II-listed property in London's glitzy Holland Park. Blueprints for the subterranean space included a state-of-the-art home gym and a 30-foot swimming pool, but neighbour Jimmy Page was convinced that Williams' plans would wreak havoc on his own beloved Grade I-listed home.
In a meeting with Kensington and Chelsea Council’s planning committee, Page reiterated his case that the vibrations from the construction work could damage his home's decorative interior, which includes stained glass, detailed plasterwork and frescoes. But in December 2018 the building plans were conditionally approved and work got underway in May 2022, with the builders using specialist tools. According to Hello, they can only use "hand tools weighing no more than 9kg" so as not to cause damaging vibrations in Page's home. The Daily Mail revealed the team was also using "19th-century hand tools" and "£50,000 ($60.7k) monitoring devices" to reduce noise. Of course, the drama hasn't stopped there. In February 2023, work was halted on Robbie's pool plans after Kensington and Chelsea council ordered him to apply for the deeds of his property to be legally changed before building work could commence.
Robbie had also hoped to increase the privacy of his huge home by boosting the height of his walls with wooden trellises, but he reportedly withdrew the application after receiving an anonymous letter. "I wholeheartedly support Robbie Williams right to have a fence around his home," the letter read. "An Englishman’s home is his castle and he should be afforded his right. The general public would perhaps benefit from the fence being higher and constructed to a sound-proofed standard!" In the latest development of the seemingly never-ending saga, Williams has been accused of "environmental vandalism" after seeking approval in June to cut back 14 plants in his garden, which he claimed were blocking light into his home, LBC reports. As you can see, Robbie's home (right) is surrounded by several large trees. So far, the former boyband heartthrob has applied for 46 separate planning requests since he arrived on the leafy street in 2013. We can't wait to see what he does – or tries to do – next!
Guitar-wielding musician Ed Sheeran is often touted as the most down-to-earth man in pop – but he's also amassed a personal fortune of £300 million ($364m), a chunk of which he has channelled into lofty property plans. The star was branded 'self-indulgent' by neighbours, who opposed the building of a 48-foot chapel on Sheeran's sprawling Suffolk estate. For the big day, the private pair were planning an intimate wedding and hoped the Saxon-style church would be the perfect place to swap vows before their 24-strong congregation.
The building would boast a 48-foot cylindrical tower and be made from flint. Hearing neighbours' rallying cries, though, local planning bosses quashed Sheeran's proposals, dubbing the project "unsustainable" and citing the presence of great crested newts as a reason for the decision. That didn't stop Ed and Cherry from tying the knot. The pair had a small secret wedding ceremony in December 2018 on their estate, but not in the chapel as planned. However, the star then applied for consent to build a smaller chapel with a burial crypt for "contemplation, prayer and relaxation," which was approved. According to the Daily Mail, the building work has been "painfully slow" and the structure is still covered in scaffolding.
Nicknamed 'Sheeranville' by riled locals, the singer's estate near a traditional English village already boasts a Grade-II listed farmhouse and a gargantuan country pile, as well as a pub, several additional houses, a gym and an underground music studio and entertainment complex with tunnels connecting them to the main residences. Residents have branded the area a 'building site' given Sheeran's continual tinkering with his impressive property portfolio.
It wasn't the only time Sheeran upset the village locals. After the singer built a private pub on his estate, a complaint was made about the pub's 16ft (4m) sign and he was ordered to remove the "unauthorised signage". The sign bore the pub's name 'The Lancaster Lock,' which was a nod to Sheeran's wife, whose full name is Cherry Lancaster Seaborn. Luckily for the pair, East Suffolk Council changed their mind, concluding that it "is not illuminated and it would not impact on the amenity of the neighbouring properties".
In May 2023, it was revealed that The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture was embroiled in a tug-of-war with a real estate exec over a "secret garden" in New York. The argument revolves around two multimillion-dollar condos in the Hudson Square neighbourhood of lower Manhattan. Let's see what all the fuss is about...
The trouble began when Cushman & Wakefield's Toby Dodd (pictured) and his wife moved into their $3.3 million (£2.7m) ground-floor apartment in 2017. The pricey pad came with a private rear garden, but they later snapped up the garden and a small ground-floor room in the building next door – the building Fraiture and his wife Ilona moved into in 2019.
The rock star bought the ground-floor and basement apartment in the building, but sued in 2021, according to The New York Post, claiming the areas purchased by Dodds had been "illegally combined" and stopped him from carrying out planned renovations. This diagram from court papers illustrates exactly how the ground-floor spaces are divided between the two properties. The circled area is in dispute. The drama surrounds three "illegal openings" created decades ago in the room Dodds bought for $300,000 (£242k). The Fraitures allege that this created an illegal premises that exists between the two buildings without approval from the Department of Buildings in New York City. In 2021, a judge ordered that the openings were sealed. However, the Dodds claim the Fraitures have blocked eight plans to remedy fire code violations caused by the openings.
They also claim to have offered to sell the rear unit to the bassist, but as the highly desirable garden (pictured) wasn't part of the deal, it was rejected. Now, Grammy-winning Fraiture will be going head to head with his nemesis in court, after Dodds filed his own suit in May 2023, claiming that the Fraitures are "fixated" on the garden and "want it for themselves". Convinced that Fraiture, who is the president of his building's board, is planning to evict them from the space, Dodds requested and was granted a judgement preventing that from happening before a court appearance in June. Meanwhile, the Dodds allege that the Fraitures have made the formerly "very pleasant" street an "unsettling, tension-filled environment for all," according to the suit. This dispute could run and run...
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch was pleased as punch when he got his hands on a £2.7 million ($3.3m) townhouse in north London in 2015. But the Sherlock Holmes frontman remained a mystery to neighbours as he refrained from moving in. Instead, he set about making plans to significantly renovate the Victorian property, sparking reservations within the local community.
First came his plans to add an attic bedroom to the already five-bedroom property, plus an extension at the rear and a 'boiler house' out front. Neighbours resisted plans, convinced that the boiler would create noise pollution and that a proposed upper balcony would compromise their privacy. The Sherlock star won the case in the end, though, with the council promising little impact on the concerned residents.
But fresh from the previous battle, Cumberbatch faced another spar over his plans to build a large shed in the back garden. The shed, which was first proposed in 2017, would have been 10 feet tall and clad in timber with climbing plants up the walls and the roof covered in extra greenery to help the structure blend with its surroundings. Despite these efforts, neighbours and local conservation committees stood firm in their views that the shed was too big.
The actor hit back at neighbours in the leafy area near Highgate (pictured), accusing them of making 'misleading' comments about his proposals. Cumberbatch withdrew his application before a decision was made, before returning with updated plans reducing the height and pitch of the roof. Luckily for the Doctor Strange actor, Camden Council relented and permission for the shed was finally granted in July 2018.
The relationship between British pop royalty Cheryl Tweedy and Liam Payne has been over for years, but it didn't end without a fight: a fight over property, that is. The pair bought their Surrey mansion, worth £5.1 million ($6.3m), in 2015 – but their plans to significantly extend the property were met with a backlash.
The elaborate plans would have doubled the size of the already mammoth house. They included a new entranceway, a vast indoor pool, a guest house and a large garage area, which would house Liam Payne's impressive set of sports cars. The extravagant proposals were nipped in the bud by planning chiefs, though, who deemed them "disproportionate" and "inappropriate".
But being former members of two of the biggest music groups in the world (One Direction and Girls Aloud, of course), this pair of pop stars are both used to getting what they want – and they were quick to appeal the council's decision. It was rumoured that they were continuing to push through proposals despite their split in July 2018, but they were reportedly repeatedly knocked back due to the fact the house was located in a green belt area.
Before the split, Liam Payne delighted fans when he shared photos of the mansion, with its sleek black-and-white scheme, leather and velvet furnishings and statement decorative pieces. It eventually sold in November 2021 for £6.5 million ($8m), making a cool £1.5 million ($1.9m) profit. Following the separation, it was reported that Liam relocated to London and, in 2019, moved into his friend Rita Ora's West London home with his then finacée Maya Henry, although they called it quits in 2022. In March 2019, Cheryl and Bear (the couple’s son) moved out of the home they had shared, eventually settling in the upmarket Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Peter.
After some pushback, Hollywood and soap star Anna Friel secured planning permission to extend her Georgian house in Windsor back in 2014 – but it's fair to say there were a few bumps along the way. When her permitted extension failed to meet the given criteria, it looked like she would be forced to tear down the extension, which was erected at the cost of £100,000 ($124k).
The plans involved adding a single-storey extension to her Grade II-listed home, with a renovated ground floor and a new door and windows. The Marcella star, whose property once housed Windsor Castle staff, set about making changes shortly after she received planning permission. But her dream extension faced demolition when it transpired that builders had used inappropriate materials, and she riled neighbours by overstepping boundaries.
Friel's furious next-door neighbours claimed that the extension had sneaked three inches onto their land. Planning bosses then discovered that materials that "harmed the historic fabric" of the house had been used to enlarge the 18th-century property. Friel was penalised with a listed building enforcement notice and ordered to "remedy or remove" the new extension within a two-month period. The building breaches caused such a stir given the property's location and history – the 18th-century townhouse is on Kings Road, which backs onto the famed Long Walk, leading to Windsor Castle.
Friel appealed after missing the imposed deadline, and though the extension is still upstanding, the actor has been forced to submit fresh planning applications and pay the associated costs. In 2021, the former Brookside star reportedly applied for permission to carry out an external refurbishment, including the redecoration of a timber door, metal work and an entrance gate. She also requested that she be able to replace timbers that were rotting due to rainwater seeping into the property. Permission was granted, although neighbours urged the council to "closely monitor progress" due to Friel's past planning misdemeanours.
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