Thursday - February 18, 2010

Neighbours fight plan to surround £60m estate with four mile wall.

Here’s an interesting exercise. Arab spends millions on a property. Never mind Arab. Anyone who spends that much to buy a property should at least in theory have the right to fence it off.  Yes?  But here we’re talking about a very different kind of setting.  Should that make any difference?

A court has approved the building of a wall around the property by an Arab royal, for security.  However, folks living in the area and even one who has lived there lifelong, say NO.  So they are appealing.

One report said the wall would be seven feet high, but another said six feet. Wish they’d get together and agree on a figure so ppl reading the supposed “facts” would get at least that much straight.

Take a look at the photo. That’s one big wall anyway.

I feel sorry for the folks in the area who will lose a nice view.  I suspect however that anyone with the money to buy and renovate the mansion would want a wall for security as well as privacy.  Especially in these times. 

Great Wall of Windsor: Neighbours fight plan to surround £60m estate

By Nick Collins

Ascot Place, which boasts an 18th century mansion surrounded by immaculate parkland, is set in unspoilt countryside just minutes from Windsor Great Park and Berkshire Polo Club.

But residents whose gardens back on to the estate say the beautiful views could be spoilt after plans by the land’s Arab owner to build a four mile long wall around the entire estate were approved by local authorities.

The property was bought for £19 million in 1989 by the ruler of Abu Dhabi, and is to be brought back into active use as one of the private residences of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the head of the royal family.

Last year, Bracknell Forest Borough Council granted permission for the wall to be erected around the grade II listed property for security purposes.

But a solicitor, whose garden faces onto the estate, has won the right to challenge the council’s decision at the High Court after arguing that the development – dubbed the “great wall of Windsor” – should be blocked.

Abigail Zoe Lewis, 32, from Winkfield, Berkshire, argued at London’s High Court that the wall would be too near to listed buildings, and was given permission to take her case to a full judicial review.

Mr Justice Irwin said her submission was “just arguable”, but added the scheme was not subject to normal planning application notifications, because it was an application for a lawful development certificate, not planning consent.

He acknowledged that plans for a “structure of this size” could have a “really major impact on the environment of those who live in such a place as this”.

Speaking outside court after the ruling, Miss Lewis, who has lived in the hamlet of Winkfield since she was five, said: “There is a genuine concern in the village that the wall would be so vast.

“The estate is lovely and, as you are driving along the roads next to it, you can see swathes of valleys. Instead of seeing that, if the scheme goes ahead, you will just see a brick wall.”

Lawyers representing the council argued that Miss Lewis had left it too late to bring her application, and that the proposed wall was a lawful development.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 02/18/2010 at 11:19 AM   
Filed Under: • News-Briefs • UK •  
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