Star Trek’s Sir Patrick boldly battles ‘elitist’ housing plan
As A former star trek captain, sir Patrick stewart is used to fighting wars in outer space.
However the award-winning actor, 77, is now boldly going into battle in his own backyard to thwart a massive development which he has denounced as ‘elitist’.
sir Patrick is leading the campaign against American multi-millionaire Peter Mullin, who wants to turn enstone Airfield near chipping Norton in Oxfordshire into a museum for his collection of 200 classic cars.
the airfield is within phaser-striking distance of the country residence which sir Patrick shares with his third wife, American singersongwriter sunny Ozell, 38 years his junior.
Mullin, who lives in california, also plans to build 28 ‘ holiday lodges’, together with a ‘ car exercise road’, ‘show lane building’, and ‘corporate hospitality building’ .
It’s dead in the water, as far as sir Patrick is concerned, and he has submitted his vehement objections to the West Oxfordshire District council.
sir Patrick, who grew up in poverty in Jarrow, describes the project as too ‘commercial and elitist: fabulously expensive historic cars, Bentley showroom and houses costing £5/6 million.
‘this is a greenfield site and there is no mention of affordable housing. the developer is a multi-millionaire and is on record as saying that if there
were local objections he would at once seek another site. He should.’
Stewart has the support of a whole army of Chipping Norton Set grandees with names such as Astor, Heathcoat-Amory and Orr-Ewing.
Perhaps most eloquent of all is Old Etonian Dominic Loehnis, arguably the closest friend of David Cameron — best man at Loehnis’s wedding.
Deriding the proposed motor museum as ‘a fig-leaf . . . to justify a blatant attempt to build 28 holiday homes in complete contradiction to the local plan’, Loehnis summarises Mullin’s project as ‘risible’.
Stewart once remarked that he feels ill at ease in a room full of Conservatives, explaining: ‘I don’t know where to look, stand or be.’ Presumably he now feels right at home.