|
|
 |
| |
 Kate Garraway |
TV presenter in ‘bullying’ tirade
GMTV anchor and ex-spin chief in outburst against neighbours
BREAKFAST television presenter Kate Garraway has blasted her neighbours in a leafy Angel enclave for their “bullying” and “harassment”.
In an uncharacteristic public outburst, the normally demure Ms Garraway launched a tirade of objections as councillors turned down her retrospective planning application for a loft extension.
The GMTV host and her ex-spin doctor husband Derek Draper were told they would be thrown out the Planning Committee on Monday night if they did not stop interrupting residents who objected to their scheme.
It also emerged that the couple have been blackballed from the respected Arlington Square Association in a row over their extension.
Ms Garraway said: “It’s my home and we’ve suffered extraordinary bullying by this association.”
She heckled the body’s Rodney Austin, who argued the extension was out of character with the conservation area.
Ms Garraway yelled “it’s inaccurate, it’s not been touched” when he questioned the height and width of their added fourth storey.
The couple converted the loft of their Georgian terrace off New North Road in 2006 to turn it into a nursery for their first child.
But they carried out the work, rumoured to have cost around £50,000, without first securing planning permission, although they did consult Town Hall planners.
Neighbours claim that at the rear it blocks out light and it is visible from the road at the front, contrary to surrounding conservation area regulations, and has the wrong kind of slate. Mr Austin said: “There’s a view (of the extension) from quite a large portion of Arlington Square. It is out of scale with the existing similar buildings.” The ill-tempered loft discussion was peppered with interruptions and chairman Councillor George Allan three times threatened to eject the couple if they did not cease their “diatribe”.
When Mr Draper raised a point of order, he was told by Cllr Allan: “I’m in no mood to take points of order from you.”
He refused to allow Ms Garraway the right to speak to the four-councillor panel, forcing her to chip in when she could, adding: “I’m not prepared to take this disruption of this meeting. I’m putting you both on a final warning. The decision will be taken in your absence.”
The GMTV presenter responded tartly: “This is extraordinary. I was told I could speak. We’ve already lowered (the extension) three times.
“We’ve had quite a lot of bullying and harassment over the past 18 months and we are quite upset.”
She added after the meeting: “The Arlington Association claim to represent everybody in the area but instead of allowing us to join we are having to argue with them. All I wanted to say (to the committee) was that I believe in the conservation area. I’m not anti it”.
A riled Mr Draper, a former aide to Peter Mandelson who is now a psychotherapist, told the meeting: “It is almost impossible to see this roof extension. You can’t see it from the street. You can see it from the front if you go to a very particular part of Arlington Square and get a pair of binoculars on a good day when there’s no leaves on the tree and you know (the extension) is there.”
He added: “We’ve been told we can’t join (the Arlington Association) because we’re hostile to the people who run it because we want our roof extension.”
Hazel Fletcher, chairwoman of the Arlington Association said later she “could not comment” on allegations the celebrity couple had been blackballed.
But Mr Austin added after the meeting: “When I said that Drapers were ‘hostile’ in relation to his complaint that he hadn’t been able to join, I meant we were hardly obliged to allow membership to people who were hostile to the objectives of the association, which is enhancing the conservation area.”
The loft extension was undertaken, said Mr Draper, in full consultation with Town Hall planning chief Alec Forshaw.
The committee voted to reject the application but to “negotiate” with the couple to reach a mutually agreeable solution.
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
