Roman’s ex wins fight to build ‘vast bling box’ in National Park

Billionaire roman abramovich has put the rebuilding of Chelsea FC’s new stadium on hold after delays to the renewal of his UK visa, but his ex-wife is intent on developing her property empire.

irina abramovich, right with roman, who became the second of his ex-wives in 2007, pocketed £155million following their divorce settlement — including a 420-acre West Sussex estate near liphook.

But her plans to transform the estate have been met with a storm of protest, with objectors deriding her proposals as dispiriting evidence of how those with ‘new money’ inflict ‘bling boxes’ on the countryside in place of buildings which have stood there for centuries.

irina, 51, who had five children with abramovich before his attention wandered to Dasha Zhukova, then aged 25, wants to demolish a 1700s farmhouse and replace it with a building more than half its size again. locals have reacted with dismay and disgust. one points out that the farmhouse is ‘of historical interest in a very sensitive rural area of the national Park’, adding that there is ‘no justification’ for its demolition and its replacement with ‘an example of pastiche rural architecture’.

another argues that the demolition is ‘an insult to our common sense’. it could only be proposed by someone who does not ‘understand [or] appreciate the value of the beauty of the South Downs’, nor, in particular, the merits of the farmhouse — ‘a small part of a breathtaking view of england in all its glory, a setting which could be an old Master painting.

‘it is heartbreaking to think this could so easily taken away by a wrong decision,’ the objector continues. ‘Too often driving through england we see a surge of new money builds with little taste, just vast monsters of what i call “bling boxes”.’

alas, for the objectors, their protests have not been enough to sway the South Downs national Park authority, which has granted irina planning permission.

But perhaps there is a glimmer of hope: 13 conditions relating to access and materials must be met before work begins.

Time enough, surely, to call up a previous protester — roman abramovich who, 14 years ago, joined a vigil staged by locals enraged by the unauthorised appearance of a telephone mast.