Claudia’s calamity
Model battles neighbour over plans for extension
SET in 530 splendid acres, Coldham Hall was once home to a conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot.
But now the 14-bedroom Tudor mansion is at the centre of an increasingly heated row over incendiary plans of another kind.
It is home to supermodel Claudia Schiffer and her English film director husband Matthew Vaughn, who recently lost a planning dispute against a neighbour who wants to double the size of her cottage on the boundary.
But Miss Schiffer and Vaughn, who believe the plans would ruin the historic atmosphere of their home in West Suffolk, refused to give up their fight and took their local council to court.
Following a recent hearing, judges at the High Court quashed the planning consent which West Suffolk Council gave, ruling that it had not been determined appropriately, it emerged yesterday. The judges ordered a fresh application be submitted.
The couple’s neighbour Hanne Pilo – believed to be related to a former owner of the estate, Danish businessman Jens Pilo – has now re-submitted her plans.
They are yet to be determined by the council, which has been ordered to adhere to a series of conditions when deciding the proposals. These include fresh consideration of the heritage issues of the proposed development.
The row began last year after Miss Schiffer and Vaughn, both 49, claimed their home would be ‘adversely impacted’ by the ‘oversized’ extension.
Miss Pilo’s original plans included a two-storey side and rear addition on Coldham Hall Cottage – which dates from the early to mid-20th century – and the demolition of an outbuilding to replace it with garages.
Miss Schiffer and Vaughn have lived in the Grade I-listed mansion for 17 years, having bought it shortly before their wedding in 2002. The couple are believed to have paid around £7.5million for the home, where they live with their three children.
It was built in 1574 and was once home to Ambrose Rookwood, one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, who was executed in 1606.