Not in my garden! Fiona Bruce goes to war over plan for six luxury f lats
FIONA Bruce i s fighting plans to build luxury flats at the bottom of her garden, claiming that they would ruin her ‘treasured oasis of peace and privacy’.
The 51-year- old presenter of BBC News and Antiques Roadshow wrote two emotional letters to the local council urging it to reject proposals for a fourstorey block of six flats in her Hampstead neighbourhood.
‘A huge source of joy in my family would be removed at a stroke,’ the ‘distressed’ mother of two told Camden council. ‘What about me? What about my family?’
Miss Bruce, one of the BBC’s highest paid presenters, l i ves in a £3.5 million home with her husband Nigel Sharrocks, an advertising executive, and their two children, Sam, 17, and Mia, 13.
She said that the plans to knock down a house that backs on to her property and build the flats could lead to flooding in her garden and ‘noise disturbance’. They would compromise her privacy and be ‘totally out of keeping with the area’, which she said was known for its ‘historical appearance’.
She added: ‘The scale of the building is of great concern. Not only is it extremely large, it would also be situated on a hill at the highest point, which will make it appear even higher and more overbearing than it already is.
‘Works of the scale proposed will horribly disrupt the peace and tranquillity of my home and garden (as well as that of my neighbours) for a considerable time.
‘I urge you to turn down this application. I honestly believe it would ruin my treasured oasis of peace and privacy.’
In her second letter, Miss Bruce complained of ‘two extremely disturbing elements’ of the proposal.
She said that, even by the assessment of the architects and builders, the new building would increase the risk of flooding. ‘In the winter, my lawn is badly affected by flooding as it is,’ she wrote. ‘Plants have died because they are too long submerged underwater.
‘Any increase in flooding from a building situated higher up the hill above me would render my garden unusable in anything but the most prolonged dry spell. My children would be unable to play in it. A huge source of joy in my family would be removed at a stroke.’
She also protested about a planned air conditioning unit which will stand separately from the flats. She said: ‘Presumably it is sited that far so that residents of the new flats will not be bothered by the noise. What about me? What about my family?
‘The air condenser will be about 5ft from my garden. And about 15ft from my garden office.
‘ Even i n some sort of acoustic shed, there will still be a distressing level of noise. In my experience (and I work with professional sound engineers) even the best acoustic shed can reduce a noise but not deaden it altogether.
‘I cannot put into words how distressed I am by this. My home and garden are my sanctuary. Hampstead is a wonderfully peaceful part of London and the greenery and the peace and quiet are what make it so special.’
One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: ‘Fiona Bruce is entirely correct in what she says – the flats are four storeys high and in an area known for its lovely Victorian homes, not horrid new-build flats.
‘If anyone knows what fits and what doesn’t, it’s the presenter of the Antiques Roadshow. This development would be far too modern for around here.’
‘Distressing level of noise’