Will Beeny’s treehouse be felled by planners?
PROPERTY show presenter Sarah Beeny, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in August, faces an unwelcome new challenge, thanks to jobsworths at her local council.
I hear that Beeny could be forced to demolish an ‘alpine winter wonderland’ treehouse at her Somerset mansion because building work started without consent from planners.
The unauthorised structure in the grounds of her new build was featured in her Channel 4 show Sarah Beeny’s New Life In The Country. She even threw an outdoor party for family and friends in the hut, with a turkey cooked over an open fire and the ceiling adorned with real reindeer antlers.
Property Ladder star Beeny, 50, who has four children with husband Graham Swift, an artist, has now applied for retrospective permission in a bid to keep the treehouse at their 223-acre semi-derelict dairy farm near Bruton.
In a letter to the council, the couple’s planning agent said: ‘Other than the treehouse, which is entirely inconspicuous, blending in with its immediate surroundings, there is no intention for additional freestanding buildings to be erected.
‘Taken overall, this is a carefully conceived proposal, and all of the elements of it will be complementary to this highquality new dwelling, resulting in an entirely appropriate setting for the building which safeguards the character and appearance of the area.’
Officials at South Somerset council are expected to make a decision in the New Year and there have been no objections from neighbours so far.
Beeny, who began chemotherapy in August, told this newspaper’s Weekend magazine last month that she had used dog clippers to shave her head as she sought to challenge stereotypes associated with baldness.
Her chemotherapy is due to finish tomorrow and she plans to drink a bottle of champagne to celebrate — having given up alcohol during her treatment.