Fellowes and Prince at odds over Duchy threat to ‘Hardy land’
JULIAN FELLOWES, the Downton Abbey creator, is trying to curtail plans by the Prince of Wales for a housing development over fears it will ruin views of Thomas Hardy’s former home.
The Duchy of Cornwall estate has unveiled controversial plans to build a large housing estate that will back on to Hardy’s former home.
Lord Fellowes, the president of the Hardy Society, has expressed concern that the 100 new properties might “impinge” on Grade I-listed Max Gate in Dorchester, Dorset.
It is the second time Lord Fellowes, who lives in the nearby village of Stafford, has publicly criticised Prince Charles’s estate with a warning that he risks destroying “Hardy land”.
In 2013, the writer responded to earlier proposals for development of a cornfield that forms part of a spectacular valley that is overlooked by Hardy’s former home, which is now owned by the National Trust.
Hardy designed and built Max Gate and wrote some of his most famous works there, including Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Casterbridge.
The Duchy’s proposal is for 100 Edwardian Arts and Crafts-inspired homes to be erected on the grassland.
Last year, Lord Fellowes helped thwart a similar-sized development in Lower Bockhampton, where Hardy went to school and set his 1872 novel Under the Greenwood Tree.
Lord Fellowes said: “I’m permanently concerned about the future of Max Gate, which has already been compromised by housing on one side.
“The local council is aware that they have something special. They must look after the story of Thomas Hardy and always bear it in mind. Perhaps there is a way of developing the land that impinges less on Max Gate. With that being said, I see no point in going to war over it and I do feel there must be new houses; people must be housed.”
Although the Duchy of Cornwall has had the plans drawn up, they are yet to be submitted to the local planning authority for approval. Of the 100 new properties, 35 of them will be “affordable homes”.
A spokesman for the National Trust said it would be looking at the Duchy of Cornwall’s plans in closer detail.