The Director General of the BBC has successfully stopped two homes being built near his £4 million farmhouse in Oxfordshire.
Tim Davie objected to the plans, which would have seen the properties adjoining the estate he shares with his wife Anne, according to The Telegraph – suggesting they would impose a “suburban feel” on the area and violate his privacy.
Permission had previously been granted to local housebuilder Bentier Homes for a five-bedroom home on the site but the couple were compelled to express their opposition to plans for two further builds in December 2023.
The plans were rejected by South Oxfordshire District Council last year, but an appeal was lodged by Bentier shortly afterwards.
Mr Davie now has cause to celebrate – as the council has dismissed the appeal, with a planning officer finding that the development, which makes up part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, would be “unacceptably harmful to the character and appearance” of the area.
The BBC Director General, who bought the £4 million Victorian farmhouse in 2001, lives just 20 metres away from the proposed new builds.
In a letter addressed to the council he said: “We have been supportive of developing the village, but another executive house of this size in the location is a major change.
“This new plan builds directly on natural land which has never been built on and is rich in wildlife.
“This is a quiet, small country lane already facing increased traffic, significant road damage and ongoing flooding. This new proposal goes much further to create a suburban feel in the village.”
He also said new houses bordering his countryside home would result in the “significant loss of our privacy” and raised noise concerns from a proposed heat pump.
Although Mr Davie recently received criticism for spending £3,000 on hotel stays in central London, his Oxfordshire family home is the perfect countryside retreat – with a barn, stables and defunct milking parlour to boot.
He wasn’t the only local to take umbrage at the prospect of new housing on his doorstep. Eileen Paddick also dubbed the scheme an “overdevelopment”, suggesting residents of the proposed homes would be able to “look straight into” other people’s windows.