Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan’s £1.3m dream home in jeopardy as council say it’s ‘too big’
MARK Wright and Michelle Keegan’s plans to build a dream family home have hit trouble after the local council complained that it’s too big.
The couple have demolished a £1.3million farmhouse and are building a five-bedroom house in Essex, complete with bar, gym and outdoor swimming pool.
After having a planning application approved last year, they’ve now redesigned the property making it even bigger and submitted a new application, which their local Parish Council objected to.
In a letter dated January 4, it wrote: "At the time of the original applications, the Parish Council considers the impact the proposed new dwelling would have on the green belt, and whilst it was felt that the dwelling itself would represent a much grander and greater dwelling than the original dwelling, the demolition of the associated cart lodge was also taken into account.
"For these reasons, the council did not object to the application, albeit some concern was raised that the property was perhaps rather large and potentially out of keeping with the rural setting.
"This new amended application further increases the size of the dwelling, and the Parish Council feels that these proposed changes increase the size of the dwelling over the original dwelling size to such a degree that it would, for reasons of its bulk and size, now represent an unacceptable increase and as such have a detrimental impact on the green belt.
"The Parish Council therefore OBJECTS to this proposal on this basis."
They have also been forced to withdraw plans to turn their home into 'a fortress' after local council complaints.
The famous couple want to make the estate more secure by surrounding it with a 'rendered wall' around two metres high.
Their local District Council hit out at the "inappropriate" plans claiming they’re not in keeping with the tone of the rural area and they would have to cut down trees to make way for the wall.
It added: "Whilst we accept that the existing conifer screen could be considered to be incongruous within this setting, to replace it with a 2.1 metre high rendered wall would be totally out of keeping, and fail to enhance the rural landscape setting.
"None of the other properties on this lane have such inappropriate boundary treatments."
The parish council again complained, stating: "The design of the height walls, together with the pillars and the gates, are out of keeping with the rural setting, and would detract from the rural nature of this particular area of the Parish."
The Sun Online have contacted Michelle Keegan's rep for comment.
In October, The Sun Online revealed that work was underway on their new abode after they knocked down the farmhouse that previously stood there.
The photos at the time showed the ground being laid in preparation for the home's foundation.
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The pics also revealed the construction work is well underway on the huge project, with a digger on site and skips dotted around the land.
The ex-reality star purchased the property in October in 2019 before demolishing the farmhouse that stood on it in July.
Mark and Michelle previously submitted plans in February 2020 to replace it with a vast Georgian-style home.