We won’t take that: Robbie summer house row hots up
POP STAR Robbie Williams hopes his palatial summer house will provide a space for ‘relaxation’ in the garden of his £17.5 million West London mansion.
But the singer’s long- suffering neighbours are not taking Robbie’s latest home improvements lying down.
After enduring four years of noisy building works, four homeowners who share a boundary with Robbie’s garden have written to the council to voice strong objections to his newly filed plans for the ‘whimsical’ folly.
Robbie’s architects call the 28ft by 16ft hut a ‘humble gem’ — despite it being roughly the size of an average one-bedroom flat.
But neighbours say the plans ‘materially understate’ the height of the summer house, which is up to 12ft 9in tall, and that the ‘ visually obtrusive’ building will overshadow their homes.
One writes: ‘The excessive height and substantial size of the proposed structure will constitute a harm to
our living conditions, it will substantially increase a sense of enclosure for us.’
Another neighbour is concerned about the former Take That star’s ‘true intentions’ for the summer house, billed as either a workspace or ‘relaxation play space’ for Robbie and wife Ayda Field’s children Teddy, four, and Charlie, two.
The neighbour points out that the designs for the building show a bathroom and a wash basin, so it could ‘morph into’ an additional bedroom or a ‘beds in sheds’ arrangement.
Robbie’s most critical neighbour, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, has so far remained silent about the proposed summer house, ahead of the planning decision that is expected next month.
But the rocker is thought to have complained about Robbie’s builders dismantling a shed on a Sunday last September, resulting in a £4,670 fine from Westminster magistrates Court for breaching noise rules.
Page, 73, previously tried to block Robbie’s extensive house renovations because he claimed that they would damage the decor in his Grade i-listed Tower House next door.