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Extension work at the Belsize Park home shared by Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow |
A Coldplay castle for star Martin
Actor and singer become latest celebs to get go-ahead to knock homes together
JAMIE Oliver and his wife Jules did it last year in Primrose Hill – despite objections from neighbours. Alastair Campbell and Fiona Millar have tried their hand at it in Gospel Oak too.
Now actor Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, have become the latest well-known faces to transform their Camden residence into a “superhouse” by knocking two properties together with the house next door.
The couple, who are said to be worth a combined £45million, are also building a two-storey extension on the side of their Belsize Park home to create a 33-room mansion.
It’s a familiar story: household names proposing radical remodelling to their households while Camden’s planning officers provide the rubber stamp.
The Town Hall insists each application is judged on its merits and not the profile of the applicant, but critics argue celebrities have the funds to push the planning laws to the limits. The applications were not discussed by councillors and decisions were taken under “delegated powers” – which means by officials in the planning department.
Gene Adams, who chairs the Belsize Conservation Area Advisory Committee, said the system was “not as impartial as it could be”.
“Celebrities get away with more because they’ve got more money,” she said. “Those with more money can afford more nous. They employ canny architects who know how to work the system, and the system is weak. These people tend to think planning committees are a restriction to their divine right to have a castle in the centre of London.”
Ms Adams said the trend had “increased with affluence” and suggested owners’ development rights should be limited further to protect properties.
But Zahid Adil, sales manager at Saffron estate agents in Parkway, said superhomes remained a craze only for the “celebrity stratosphere” and that Camden need not be wary of a raft of similar cases.
“It’s a different social level to the people putting basements into their home for example,” he said. “A lot of them [celebrities] will not even use their home more than a couple of months a year.”
Amon Amouzandeh, senior salesman at Olivers estate agent, said home extensions were currently popular with celebrities because they “had the means to adapt their home instead of having to move”.
He added: “There are a lot of properties on the market that have already had extensions in the past. The local authority needs to grant you permission for an extension. Conservation areas give more restrictions, especially in Camden, to try and keep with the character of the area.”
Primrose Hill is included in a conservation area, but that did not stop TV chef Jamie Oliver winning planning permission for his 27-room home in 2008.
Two objections from people living nearby about the loss of existing housing did not affect the council’s judgment.
There were no objections in 2005 when Mr Campbell and Ms Millar bought their neighbour’s flat in Gospel Oak and won permission to connect the two.
A spokeswoman for Camden Council said: “The council decides a huge range of high-profile applications each year – and each one is determined on its merits not on any other criteria such as the profile of the applicant.”
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