De Haan plans garage off A2

Insurance magnate’s son wants home for ‘extensive collection’ of supercars Exclusive

The youngest son of one of the UK’S wealthiest men wants to build a garage for his collection of supercars on countryside just off the A2.

Samuel De Haan last year gained permission to construct a luxury three-bedroom property on the land, which sits within the Blean Woods Special Landscape Area in Upper Harbledown.

But the racing driver, whose father is insurance magnate Sir Roger De Haan, now wants to erect a new garage for his “extensive collection” of cars, and build an illuminated tennis court there as well.

If the plans for the new features at the Harbledown site are approved, the tennis court will be surrounded by mesh fencing and six metre-high LED light stands.

A derelict bungalow and barn previously occupied the plot – close to the BP garage and Holiday Inn – but were demolished by contractors to make way for the new home.

Harbledown and Rough Common Parish Council had raised concerns about access off the A2, but the scheme was approved by the city council’s planning committee in March last year.

Parish councillors discussed the new proposals at a meeting on Monday night.

Janet Larkinson says it would be petty of the council to object to the plans despite the fact it holds little enthusiasm for the project.

“We never want lights to be put up in the countryside but that area is not really the countryside anymore,” she said.

“It is already illuminated by the lights at the services nearby so these new lights for the tennis court are not going to make too much of a difference.

“We don’t want the garage to be used for business. The size and number of cars that will be stored there seems excessive but that is what the applicant wants.”

Samuel, 21, is the eighth child of Sir Roger, who sold the Sandgatebased Saga travel company for a massive £1.35 billion in 2004 and has since invested millions into regenerating Folkestone.

Sir Roger, 69, was ranked the UK’S 148th wealthiest man on The Sunday Times rich list this year, with a fortune of £895m.

Samuel, who has owned an Aston Martin, Lamborghini and a Nissan GT-R, made his motor racing debut at the famous Brands Hatch circuit in West Kingsdown last month, driving an Audi RS3 for the Barwell Motorsport team.

He has competed in three events at the track within the last month, scoring his first-ever victory in a New Millennium series race two weeks’ ago.

He competed in a Britcar Endurance Championship event at the weekend, finishing 13th in a 50-minute night race on Saturday.

To view the plans, visit publicaccess.canterbury. gov.uk and search for the CA//17/02498 application.