Tycoon wins go-ahead for mansion...but will it spoil Queen’s favourite view?
QUEEN Camilla once said there were ‘few sights more stirring or beautiful’. But locals fear the development of a proposed ‘neo-classical’ mansion will blight the impressive vista to Lochnagar, near the Royal family’s Highland retreat. Hospitality tycoon Alastair Storey, who bought Abergeldie Estate, next to Balmoral, in Aberdeenshire for £23million in 2021, has been given the go-ahead to knock down a steading and build a home despite fears it will ‘spoil the Queen’s favourite view’. The development is part of a grand ‘vision’ to turn the 11,500acre hunting estate into a tourist resort with luxury self-catering units and wildlife tours. Aberdeenshire Council officials admitted the ‘design and scale’ of the ‘neo-classical style’ property at Bovaglie was the ‘most controversial element of the proposal’. But while they acknowledged some locals felt the design to be ‘inappropriate’ for the landscape, their report states: ‘It is not uncommon to see differing forms of architecture throughout Deeside.’
And planning officials listed King Charles’s Birkhall home on the Balmoral estate as a ‘differing style of architecture’ within the area.
But local resident Andrew Beven said: ‘The new house does not look right in place of the existing steading, nor the surrounding landscape, and the architects have not understood the climate at 1,250ft for which they should be designing.’
Another objector said the moorland deserved a ‘simple design, more akin to traditional Scottish shooting lodges’.
Following concerns demolition and construction work could disturb golden eagles during breeding season, Mr Storey has been told to seek advice from nature experts before work begins.
A bat survey report also states any work will need to begin outwith the bat maternity season which runs from October to March.
An access path will also likely become private once the mansion is built but Mr Storey would need to find a ‘suitable alternative’ before any works started.
Documents lodged by his architects said an edition of the magazine Country Life edited by Queen Camilla carried a feature on the view, which she described as ‘her favourite view in the world’.
With this in mind, they said, they knew the design had to be ‘entirely appropriate’.