Ab Fab and Bottom stars Jennifer Saunders and Adrian Edmondson face fresh planning battle over £250k extension to their £2m Dartmoor home

Daily Mail​

6 days ago

Jennifer Saunders and Ade Edmondson are facing a fresh planning battle over their £250,000 extension to their Dartmoor bolthole.
The Absolutely Fabulous and Bottom stars are planning to move to their £2million country manor house in Dartmoor National Park full time as they scale down their work commitments in London.
The celebrity couple have lived at the Grade II-listed property for the last three decades and want to carry out a raft of landscaping and construction works to the property.
They had previously been granted planning permission last year to create a new entrance and parking area, extend a workshop, create a terrace, and move an existing greenhouse.
They also want to replace a window, build a new garden pavilion, and install air source heat pumps and a solar array.
Permission was granted with conditions attached, but the couple have now applied for several of these to be 'discharged'.
This includes the requirement to remove an external staircase and first floor door in their entirety within a year of the original permission and installing the first floor window shown in the plans within the same timescale.
The couple also wants to remove the stipulation that details of the 'new replacement painted timber door' should be submitted and approved in writing by planners.
The planning application, which is currently under consideration by Dartmoor National Park Authority, also seeks to remove a third condition that details of how and where air source heat pumps will be installed are approved in advance.
In documents to support the original application, their representatives wrote: 'Their work has meant that the couple splits their time between London and Devon.
'However, Jennifer and Adrian anticipate in the coming years reducing the amount of time spent away from home.
'They wish to make some sensitive alterations to the existing outbuildings in order to better suit their current needs and lifestyles.'
But building conservation officer Clare Vint, for the Dartmoor National Park Authority, had raised concerns and wrote in her report: 'As the application currently stands the impact of the proposals on the significance of the listed buildings and their setting has not been minimised.
'There is also insufficient justification for the works and minimal public benefit.'
The council report states the settlement on the site predates the Doomsday Book of 1086 formerly known as Taincoma and the 16th century Manor House is Grade II-listed.
Ms Vint added: 'The interior and exterior of the building are of high significance architecturally, historically and archaeologically.'
She said the air source heat pump and relocated oil tank would need to be screened to minimise the visual impact, while an 'associated concrete slab' needed to be minimised to avoid a physical impact on the foundations of the listed building.
She said the entrance walling, location and size of vehicle access 'should not be altered' while warning that building a paved area would 'interrupt the relationship between the stables (cottage) building and the house'.
She added: 'The change in topography to create the car pergola, with its stark raised eastern wall, glazed balustrade, with vehicles visible at high level when viewed from the south east will cause harm to the setting of the cottage, the setting of the house and the overall relationship between them.
'When coupled with the open car port frame (pergola) the negative impact is increased (irrespective of whether this is covered in vegetation in time).'
Plans for the degree of negative impact of the solar panels can only be fully assessed with details of the amount of vegetation that would need to be removed, she added.
Ms Vent also recommended a number of amendments to 'minimise the impact on the building.
These included painting external stairs black to reduce their visibility and screening the air source heat pump or potentially relocating it to a less visible location.
She also recommended minimising the 'negative impact' on the garden pavilion through a 'reduction in overall height, depth and width, and a more lightweight structure.'
The application on behalf of the celebrity couple stated 'some works within the listed curtilage of the cottage were previously undertaken without consent'.
'This application seeks to regularise those works, with no structural alterations proposed within the cottage,' the planning document states.
A decision on the application to remove the conditions will be made at a later date.