Singer Ed blasts critics who say mansion fence aims to deter homeless
WITH a €42million fortune and an impressive property portfolio, he has come a long way since he was a penniless musician struggling to keep a roof over his head.
But now Ed Sheeran has been criticised for planning to erect 1.5-metre cast-iron railings outside his £8.5million home – partly, it is claimed, to stop the homeless sleeping there.
The 27-year-old singer denied it had anything to do with keeping out the homeless – on whose behalf he has campaigned – and insisted it was to deter the paparazzi.
But a planning document submitted on his behalf earlier this year said the railings and a gate set in stone plinths ‘will help to deter rough sleeping’ near his four-bedroom warehouse conversion.
Neighbours have objected, saying the railing would be ‘detrimental to the conservation area’ and ‘obscure’ the ‘well-loved building’. After details of the application were made public, Galway Girl singer Sheeran, who is engaged to his childhood sweetheart Cherry Seaborn, 25, hit back at critics on Instagram.
He told his 21.6million followers on the social network: ‘[It is] b ******* , I have done lots of work in the past for [homelessness charities] Crisis and Shelter and would never build railings outside my home for that reason. The reason was to keep the paps from being on my doorstep.’
A spokesman for the singer said: ‘This is a standard planning application, which was not written by Ed, and it is not reflective of Ed’s views or feelings on homelessness.’
Writing in his 2014 book A Visual Journey, Sheeran claimed: ‘There was an arch outside Buckingham Palace that has a heating duct and I spent a couple of nights there.
‘That’s where I wrote the song Homeless… I didn’t have anywhere to live for much of 2008 and the whole of 2009 and 2010.’
He later said his words were ‘taken out of context’ and that he often had to sleep on trains or friends’ sofas.