EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Could otters halt Stella McCartneys plans for £5m holiday eco-mansion?

Stella McCartney is finding herself in a spot of otter bother with her would-be Scottish neighbours – as resistance to her £5 million eco-mansion in the Highlands shows no sign of abating.

The fashion designer, 53, has even employed a conservationist to prove to locals that the mammals dont reside in the west coast region, where she and 54-year-old husband

Alasdhair Willis are planning to use architects Brown & Brown to build a futuristic, six-bedroom holiday home.

Stella, the daughter of Beatles legend Sir Paul, spent much of her childhood in a Scottish farmhouse on the Mull of Kintyre – which inspired her fathers famous 1977 song. She also got married in a star-studded ceremony on the Isle of Bute in 2003.

But enraged locals have now installed covert cameras in a bid to prove that otters, and other protected local species, do in fact live in the area.

In a letter of rejection to Highland Council, one resident says: Camera traps were set up by a neighbour and I, and we immediately had photo and video evidence of otters, pine martens and numerous birds.

Alasdhair Willis (left) and Stella McCartney attend the launch of the Stella McCartney Global flagship store on Old Bond Street in 2018 

The architects illustration of the plans for Stella McCartneys new house in Roshven 

Alasdhair Willis are planning to use architects Brown & Brown to build a futuristic, six-bedroom holiday home

We have been blighted... by rock-breaking and the noise is so loud. Rock-breaking will seriously upset the otters.

And Karen White, the previous owner of the site, says: On numerous occasions over the past 50 years I have seen single otters, pairs of otters and families on the rocks and there is no doubt they would be distracted should this building be allowed to proceed.

Stella faces as many as 60 objectors to her retreat – including Woodland Trust Scotland – and locals have labelled the project an act of cultural and ecological vandalism.

McCartneys planning agent said: We can find no evidence of any such holt and have not been made aware of any evidence to the contrary.

Council officials are set to reach a verdict next month.

Is Freud an open book? 

Novelist Esther Freud, the daughter of celebrated artist Lucian Freud, immortalised her bohemian childhood in the acclaimed novel Hideous Kinky – which was turned into a film starring Kate Winslet.

And I hear she has now penned the long-awaited sequel to her 1992 autobiography.

Novelist Esther Freud pictured at the Womens Prize for Fiction 2019 awards 

I would have continued on indefinitely changing words and phrases if a courier hadnt come and whisked it away, Esther admitted.

I wonder if itll reference the £42 million family feud over their late fathers fortune?

Kirstys Halloween look is a true horror  

Kirsty Bertarelli became the UKs richest divorcee when her billionaire husband, Ernesto, agreed to a £350 million settlement in 2021. Shes clearly been spending her fortune on some questionable clothing...

For Halloween, the former Miss UK dressed up as the late millionaires Kitty Menendez, who was murdered along with her husband, Jose, by their sons Lyle and Erik in 1989 – a case recently fleshed out in a Netflix documentary series.

Britains richest divorcee Kirsty Bertarelli dresses up as millionaire Kitty Menendez, who was murdered by her sons, Lyle and Erik - the Menendez brothers - for Halloween 

Kirsty, 53, has posted a photo recreating Kittys grisly murder scene on Instagram. Who doesnt love a good dress-up, she wrote.

Liam quit firms on day of death  

Tragic One Direction star Liam Payne was in the process of walking away from his failing solo music-making enterprises on the day he died, I can reveal.

The Wolverhampton-born singer fell 45ft from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina – suffering fatal injuries – on October 16.

Newly published documents at Companies House disclose that on the same date, the pop star filed papers to resign as a director from the four firms he channelled his income through for recordings and live shows.

Former One Direction member Liam Payne is pictured in Paris in March this year

Tearful fans hug each other as they gather outside the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires

(From left) Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne in 2010

One called Hampton Music Ltd was valued at £17,300 last year, while the singers Hampton Records Ltd – which was worth £300,000 in 2022 – had decreased to just below £75,000, accounts show.

His live music arm, Long Play Touring LLP, also saw its value dwindle from about £135,000 in 2022 to just £17,000 last year.

Finally, his firm Hampton Publishing Ltd was valued at only £729.

Jeffrey Archer backs Kemi Badenoch

Jeffrey Archer backs Kemi Badenoch to become the new Tory leader. 

Shes a fierce, bright and extremely competitive woman – and will keep Keir on his toes, the ex-Conservative deputy chairman tells me. 

But the 84-year-old, whose book An Eye For An Eye has just been published, predicts: She will say outrageous things that will come back to bite her. 

Conservative leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch makes her keynote leaders speech to party members on the main stage in the Birmingham ICC

Stanley Johnson loses hearing aids on London Underground  

Spare a thought for Stanley Johnson, who finds it difficult to travel in London by rail without losing his costly hearing aids. 

The former Im A Celebrity contestant, 84, tells me: I sometimes still get the Underground. 

But when the train comes theres a rushing mighty wind and it can blow them off – and thats £4,500 down the drain. 

Stanley Johnson (pictured) finds it difficult to travel in London by rail without losing his costly hearing aids

Demis gruesome film sparks a walk-out  

Coralie Fargeats controversial body horror The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, proved too gory for guests at its Middle East and North Africa premiere at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt at the weekend.

The picture, which follows a fading TV star who takes a mysterious drug to create her younger double – played by Qualley, far left, with Moore – led to a mass walk-out due to its gruesome scenes.

The film is now set to be banned in the region, as an insider tells me: Its only been cleared for the festival but wont be allowed to be screened for a theatrical release anywhere in the region. Theres quite a bit of nudity in it, which violates the Egyptian moral code.

Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore attend the 2024 Academy Museum Gala at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on October 19 

Demi Moore pictured at the 2024 Academy Museum Gala

Its horrific and wont be able to pass with the censorship boards standards, the source adds. There would have had to be at least 56 cuts for it to be shown on the big screen.

But Moore, 61, has defended the movie, saying: It was such a unique, out-of-the-box way of delving into the subject matter of ageing, that pursuit of perfection, placing value and validation on the external aspects as opposed to valuing our insides.