EXCLUSIVERicky Gervais loses planning fight to knock down his flooding-prone Thames riverside home and replace it with a new £5million mega mansion
Ricky Gervais has lost a planning battle to demolish his flooding-prone home beside the River Thames and replace it with a new £5million luxury mansion.
Ricky Gervais has lost a planning battle to demolish his flooding-prone home beside the River Thames and replace it with a new £5million luxury mansion.
The award-winning comedian and actor applied to build a four-bedroom neo-classical house on the site of his existing three bedroom property which has been hit by flooding at least five times since 1947.
But the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead refused consent for his project earlier this month after ruling that it did not meet local and national planning guidelines.
Gervais, 63, had included CCTV pictures in his planning application, showing the main entrance of his existing riverside home, his garage and back garden underwater earlier this year when it was most recently flooded by water from the Thames.
His plans to knock down his home which he describes as his little country retreat and replace it were drawn up after his earlier proposal to add a bedroom extension over the garage was withdrawn last year.
Ricky Gervais has lost a planning battle to demolish his flooding-prone home beside the River Thames and replace it with a new £5million luxury, neo-classical mansion, similar to the above
Gervais applied to build a four-bedroom neo-classical house on the site of his existing three bedroom property
Planning documents suggested that the new Georgian-style home proposed by Gervais would have been less prone to flooding with its ground floor being just over 2ft higher than his existing house
The property in Buckinghamshire, lies in a designated Green Belt area where extensions face tougher planning laws, and is also within a flood zone
Gervais who lives with his best-selling novelist partner Jane Fallon had also commissioned a flood risk assessment as part of his failed application
Parish councillors had opposed his extension plan, saying it was an inappropriate development on green belt land and too close to the house next door.
Planning documents suggested that the new Georgian-style home proposed by Gervais would have been less prone to flooding with its ground floor being just over 2ft higher than his existing house in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
It would also have had flood guards at the front and rear, as well as void spaces for floodwater beneath its ground floor.
A planning agent acting for the star of TV comedies After Life and The Office had argued in a design statement that his current house was of poor design quality with a disjointed internal layout.
The new proposed home would have included an open plan kitchen and dining area with sweeping views of the Thames, a home gym, a drawing room, a snug sitting area, a plant room and cloakroom.
The two-storey house would also have boasted four bedrooms upstairs including a master suite including an ensuite and dressing room spanning the entire northern elevation with a terrace overlooking the Thames.
Gervais also planned to retain his tennis court, but add a pond in his garden, and plant extra boundary hedges to make up for the loss of a cherry tree which would have been cut down.
His agent insisted that the new house would be of a similar size and scale to the property it was replacing, and just under 1ft higher.
There were also plans to provide roosts for protected bats in the proposed car port and storage area at the side of the house, as well as bat boxes for them in nearby trees.
The two-storey house would also have boasted four bedrooms upstairs including a master suite including an ensuite and dressing room spanning the entire northern elevation with a terrace overlooking the Thames
Pictured: Another Neo-Georgian mansion, in the style the actor and comedian had planned for his new pad
The new proposed home would have included an open plan kitchen and dining area with sweeping views of the Thames, a home gym, a drawing room, a snug sitting area, a plant room and cloakroom
It would also have had flood guards at the front and rear, as well as void spaces for floodwater beneath its ground floor
A planning agent acting for the star of TV comedies After Life and The Office had argued in a design statement that his current house was of poor design quality with a disjointed internal layout
The move followed a bat survey commissioned by Gervais which found 1,000 droppings from the creatures in the roof space of the existing house and sightings of 333 soprano pipistrelle bats emerging from the building.
But the councils assistant director of planning Adrien Waite refused planning consent, under the councils delegated powers, for three technical reasons, despite there being no objections from five neighbours who were consulted.
He argued that the plans did not include a legal agreement ensuring that they met National Planning Policy Framework rules which require new developments to have a biodiversity net gain for the area of at least ten per cent.
The complicated rules take into account the loss or gain for wildlife habitats caused by a proposed development, with further points awarded or deducted for changes to hedgerows and watercourses.
Despite the proposed house being higher than the existing one, Mr Waite also ruled that it was an inappropriate more vulnerable development in a high risk flood zone, and that plans had failed to demonstrate it would be safe from flooding.
He pointed to a report suggesting that the void spaces meant to capture floodwater beneath the house could become blocked meaning water could end up going elsewhere.
Mr Waite had further concerns about the carbon footprint of the new home, saying that its likely adverse impact on climate change has not been satisfactorily overcome.
He claimed that the plans did not include sufficient information to agree an adequate financial contribution to the councils carbon offset fund to compensate for its effect on the environment.
Mr Waites decision followed a council planning report recommending refusal, even though it said the new house would reach required internal space standards and represented an acceptable standard of residential accommodation.
The council report also pointed out that that the development would be of similar scale, height and design to other homes in the vicinity and would not represent a greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt.
The riverside home of comedian Ricky Gervais on the River Thames which has narrowly escaped being flooded
The steps separating the river from 61-year-old comedian Ricky Gervaiss garden had become partially submerged, but the garden itself is had not succumbed to the river
Gervais had included CCTV pictures in his planning application, showing the main entrance of his existing riverside home, his garage and back garden underwater
Images showed the extent of the flooding to the property when the Thames burst its banks
Flooding from the Thames as even gone as the gates on the driveway on the other side of the house, according to this CCTV image
It also described the existing house as a modest modern two storey brick property with no historic interest and no distinguishing features.
The report went on to say that the design of the new house was acceptable and would not result in loss of privacy or light to neighbouring properties.
Gervais planning agent argued in his design statement: The existing dwelling is of poor design quality, performs poorly in sustainability terms and has a disjointed internal layout.
Any new dwelling should therefore be of high design quality internally and externally with substantially enhanced sustainability credentials.
The proposed scheme seeks to create a high-quality, sustainable dwelling that will be flood resilient and significantly enhances its build and natural surroundings, while also providing an enhanced standard of living accommodation.
The proposal aims to take advantage of its riverside location by maximising views to the River Thames and providing open and spacious living spaces as opposed to the smaller segregated spaces currently provided with the existing dwelling.
Gervais who lives with his best-selling novelist partner Jane Fallon had also commissioned a flood risk assessment as part of his failed application.
His agent addressed the flooding risk of the proposed new build, saying: This is a considerable increase in the ground floor level.
Combined with the increased flood storage beneath the building footprint, decreased building footprint on site and the improvement in flood resilient measures, there will be a marked improvement in the flood risk level attributed to and from thus dwelling.
Though the improvements do not remove this dwelling completely from flood risk, they provide a marked improvement to the safety of the occupiers, providing a significant increase in floor levels which in turn delivers more time to respond to a flooding event.
Gervais has an extensive property portfolio including a £14.75million mansion with nine bedrooms, a spa and tennis court in a leafy Conservation area in north London, as well as his Marlow riverside home
Gervais has an extensive property portfolio including a £14.75million mansion with nine bedrooms, a spa and tennis court in a leafy Conservation area in north London, as well as his Marlow riverside home.
He also reportedly has two apartments on New Yorks Upper East Side which he bought for £1.1million in 2008 and £2.5million in 2011.
Gervais previously sparked a row with neighbours at his former £7.7million home in Hampstead, north London after he dug out a basement to add an underground gym and indoor pool.
Other famous residents with property in the Marlow area include fellow comedian Russell Brand who bought a £3.3million, six-bedroom riverside home in Henley-on-Thames just two months before Gervais bought his riverside home, in 2014.
