Model Claudia Schiffer fails in planning fight with neighbour
THEY MAY be one of the world’s most influential couples in entertainment, but that has not prevented them failing to win a planning battle in the English countryside.
Claudia Schiffer and her film-maker husband, Matthew Vaughn, have lost the planning dispute with a neighbour who wants to double the size of her cottage on the edge of their country estate.
The German catwalk star, 49, and Vaughn, 48, objected on the grounds that Coldham Hall, their west Suffolk mansion, would be “directly and adversely impacted” by the “oversized” extension.
Acting for the couple, planning firm had produced a report claiming the extension to Coldham Hall Cottage would have a “negative impact” on the estate, “further eroding their historic rural farmstead character”.
However, the resident of the cottage, Hanne Pilo, was last week granted permission by West Suffolk Council to build a two-storey side and rear extension, and demolish an outbuilding to make way for a garage.
Ms Pilo has been given a deadline of three years to carry out the work.
Schiffer and Vaughn have lived on the Grade I listed Tudor estate, to the south of Bury St Edmunds, for some 17 years, having purchased the property shortly before their wedding in 2002.
Vaughn is best known for gangster thrillers Snatch and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, and for directing the Kingsman series starring Taron Egerton.
Despite the couple’s opposition, planning officer Adam Yancey wrote that Ms Pilo’s work would cause little disruption to the Vaughns because of the 100ft distance between the two properties.
He also said the cottage, which was built in the early to mid-20th century, had been incorrectly listed on the Historic England website as a listed property.
Schiffer and Vaughn live at Coldham Hall with their three children, Caspar, 16, Clementine, 14, and Cosima, nine.