EXCLUSIVE: Lord Sugar loses planning battle to build ‘inappropriate’ gated entrance at his £8.5m Essex mansion which leads to new security suite with a cinema and games room
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Lord Alan Sugar has lost yet another battle with his local council after his plan to build a new entrance to his £8.5million Essex mansion was thrown out.
The Apprentice host, 76, has been refused planning permission to create the new gated entrance and driveway for his estate, which boasts a swimming pool, floodlit tennis court and a historic walled garden.
Officers at Epping Forest District Council ruled that the tough-talking tycoon’s plan represented an ‘inappropriate’ and ‘harmful’ intrusion on Metropolitan Green Belt land.
Lord Sugar had stated in his application that he wanted the new entrance, with 7ft-high painted metal gates, to replace one of his existing two entrances which is ‘no longer considered suitable nor fit for purpose’.
But council officials questioned the need for the new gates which, along with a 13ft-wide driveway, would lead to a planned security suite outbuilding, equipped with a cinema and games room, at the businessman’s home set in ten acres of land in Chigwell.
Lord Alan Sugar, 75, has lost a battle with his local council after his plan to build a new entrance to his £8.5million Essex mansion was thrown out
The single storey ‘garden room’ is described as a security office with toilet and kitchen facilities, a services cupboard, cinema and ‘games entertainment room
Several other planning applications for the historic Chigwell mansion (pictured) have been submitted – with Lord Sugar arguing some were wrongly rejected
Planning documents reveal that council officers feared that the plans demonstrated that the former Tottenham Hotspur owner may want to use the outbuilding as ‘a separate dwelling’ on his land.
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A council report voicing disapproval of his plan to build the new entrance, along with new 6ft high railings along the boundary of his land, pointedly described Lord Sugar’s home as already ‘significantly extended’.
The refusal of planning consent is the latest in a series of rejections suffered by Lord Sugar, 76, in his attempts to carry out improvements at his mansion.
Plans were drawn up in 2021 to demolish his 115-year-old house and build a new one with a swimming pool, yoga studio, hair salon, cocktail bar and even a room devoted to his dog.
The proposal, submitted in the name of Lord Sugar’s daughter Louise, was dismissed by planners who ruled that the house was too big and would cause significant harm to the green belt land.
Council bosses later approved a plan to demolish an existing conservatory and build a two-storey rear extension with a 70 square metre footprint and a single storey side extension on the house with a footprint of 48 square metres.
A plan for another outbuilding at the other end of the garden, around 30m from the main house, was also approved.
But Louise’s application for a second outbuilding with a gym, study and bathroom around 100ft from the main house was rejected due to the size of the rooms, the facilities and its position being ‘some distance from the main house’.
The refusal of planning consent is the latest in a series of rejections suffered by Lord Sugar, 76, in his attempts to carry out improvements at his mansion
Council officers ruled that the panned outbuilding with a gym, study and bathroom was big enough to be a two-bedroom house for four people.
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As a result, Lord Sugar drew up revised plans for a single storey ‘garden room’ outbuilding which his agents described as a security office with toilet and kitchen facilities, a services cupboard, cinema and games entertainment room.
Council chiefs approved plans for the new outbuilding in March, but chose to reject the new entrance and driveway, even though no local residents had raised objections.
Planning officer Kie Farrell said in a report that the new entrance gates could be ‘considered acceptable’ if they were going to go on the site of one of the existing entrances.
But the officer argued that the new driveway was outside the mansion’s ‘residential curtilage’, meaning that the plans involved an intrusion on to Green Belt land and were ‘unacceptable in terms of Green Belt impact’.
The officer’s report added: ‘It is unclear why the two existing accesses to the site are insufficient to serve the existing residential dwelling and why a third access is required to be created on Green Belt land falling outside of the residential curtilage.
The plans, which can be seen on Epping Forest District Council’s documents, show a room dedicated to the family dog. Initial plans that were rejected by the council last year also featured a dog room for Lord Sugar’s Bernedoodle dog called Winston (pictured)
‘It does appear that the purpose of the application is to create an access which would open up an undeveloped part of the site and also provide an access and driveway to the outbuilding approved… in order that it may be used as a separate dwelling.
‘It is considered that the proposed development in particular the entrance gates extension to the driveway road outside of the residential curtilage is inappropriate development in the Green Belt and would also have a harmful impact on openness.
‘Furthermore, the drawing appears to show that the proposal is in fact creating a separate access for the outbuilding approved.’
The officer concluded: ‘The proposed development would be an incongruous incursion into undeveloped Green Belt land which would have a harmful impact on the character and appearance of the site and surrounding area.’
Lord Sugar also appeared to have landed in hot water with council officials as his plans added a hardstanding and car parking spaces to his proposed security suite despite them not being approved.
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