Kate’s barn conversion dream grounded... by bats
SUPERMODEL Kate Moss’s plans for a major redevelopment at her ten-bedroom, £2.5 million Cotswolds home have been temporarily grounded – by bats and barn owls.
Moss wants to turn a barn in her grounds into guest accommodation with a billiard room, while nearby stables are earmarked to become ‘an entertainment area’, complete with a lounge, cinema and 12-seat dining room.
But protected common pipistrelle bats and barn owls have been found in the stables, and until the model can prove that her late-night hangers-on have cleared off, she is unlikely to win planning permission for the work – which is expected to cost hundred of thousands of pounds.
Bat surveyors have already twice inspected the stables, over a period of several months, no doubt to Kate’s frustration. She has now been told an overnight assessment will have to be carried out to monitor any comings and goings by wild creatures from dusk until dawn.
I would suggest a similar exercise, once the building becomes party girl Kate’s entertainment pad, might be far more entertaining.