Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page’s sizzling performance ... at council planning meeting!
He wins reprieve in battle with Robbie Williams over basement
for five decades, he has thrilled fans with electrifying shows in stadiums the world over.
Last night Jimmy Page gave another virtuoso performance – by delivering an impassioned speech... at a council meeting.
The legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist pleaded with planners to save his Grade Ilisted London mansion – which he says is under threat from a huge basement development by neighbour robbie Williams.
Describing himself as the custodian of his remarkable Gothic-style home, the 74-yearold told Kensington and Chelsea’s planning committee he had a ‘duty to protect it’.
And his speech was rewarded with an 11th hour reprieve after councillors agreed to defer a decision pending legal assurances about independent monitoring of vibrations caused by building work.
Wearing a black suit with white shirt, Page called his home an ‘irreplaceable treasure’.
‘My name is Jimmy Page, but that is not important,’ he told the committee. ‘What is important is that I’ve been the owner of the Tower House since 1972. My home was designed by William Burges, one of the greatest artists of the 19th century.
‘It was his own home, his showroom, and it contains original, fragile and irreplaceable interiors. It is one of only 18 Grade I-listed buildings in the borough.
‘I am here to plead that you take all necessary measures to protect the Tower House from the threat of harm it faces from the work proposed.’ Page, who has been locked in a four-year battle with former Take That star Williams, added: ‘It is a wonderful, delicate, heritage building and treasure.
‘I believe it’s my duty to protect that house, I really do.’
He claimed none of Williams’ team had even visited his home – which was built in the 1870s and previously owned by poet John Betjeman – to assess the fragility of its interiors. Williams, 44, bought the £17.5million mansion next to Page in 2013, hoping to add an extension to the Grade II-listed property.
But Page – whose hits include You Shook Me – insists the vibrations from construction work could be ‘catastrophic’ for his ‘unique’ home, which contains ornate stained glass, decorative plasterwork and ceramic tiling.
The guitarist explained that he organised a test drilling to check for potential damage and ‘the whole place was shaking’. He later revealed he only plays acoustic guitars in his home, even in Led Zeppelin’s heyday, to minimise vibrations. Last night’s deferral will also involve examining extra conditions, such as the possibility of workers using only hand tools.
Williams’s subterranean building work is designed to give him a gym and 30ft underground pool.
He has dismissed his neighbour’s concerns, insisting that if the Led Zeppelin star’s home had survived the Blitz, it would survive the building work. A report by Williams’ building team insisted the effect from his so-called iceberg basement is ‘negligible’. Speaking after the meeting, Page said: ‘I’m the custodian of that house, and on my watch I feel that I’ve got to do everything I can.
‘It’s my duty, I’m only the custodian to pass it on to the next person. I feel passionate about it.
‘I’m pleased with the outcome in so much as the council showed so much consideration to Tower House. I think the deferment was a very good conclusion, sensible.
The musician, whose hits also include Whole Lotta Love and Stairway To Heaven, is reportedly worth £110million. He said during the last work at Williams’s house the builders had been ‘flagrant’ in ignoring curbs on their hours, which went ‘through to Saturday and into the night’. ‘If people don’t keep to the rules and the times they are supposed to work then there’s an issue,’ he said.
The veteran rocker, who is in a relationship with actress and poet Scarlett Sabet, 27, also criticised his neighbour’s plans to remove two sweet bay trees, which he claimed will ruin his view.
Williams’ team said they would monitor vibration levels strictly. If they exceed 2mm (0.08ins) per second, work would stop. Vibrations of 1mm (0.04ins) per second are roughly the same as those caused by a lorry driving past.
‘It’s my duty to protect that home’