Lord Alan Sugar, 76, faced yet another setback with his local council as they rejected his plans to construct a new gated entrance to his £8.5 million Essex mansion.
The billionaire host of 'The Apprentice' has received anotherplanning permissionrefusal from Epping Forest District Council for his 10-acre estate, which includes a swimming pool, tennis court, and classic Victorian features.
The council deemed Lord Sugar's plans for his Chigwell based home as "harmful" to the Metropolitan Green Belt land, which is yet another planning refusal he has faced for this property.
7ft gates for his 13ft wide driveway
In his application Lord Sugar explained that he wanted to install a new boundary fence and entrance gates to his Essex mansion.
该计划将取代他的现有entran之一ces with a new one, featuring 7-foot-high painted metal gates for a new 13-foot wide driveway.
The new gated entrance was meant to lead onto a second outbuilding, which Lord Sugar had received permission to build, as part of largescale renovations to the estate.
The outbuilding includes a a single-storey "garden room" outbuilding with security office features, toilet, kitchen facilities, and entertainment rooms, that lies within the curtilage of the house.
Plans would cause 'significant harm' to the Green Belt
While this new outbuilding received approval, the council chose to reject the new entrance and driveway on the 15th of August.
Council officials questioned the necessity of these new gates, and planning documents raised concerns that Lord Sugar might intend to use the outbuilding as a separate dwelling on his property, which led to hisplanning permission being refused.
Planning Officer Mark Shearman stated: "The application site is located in the Metropolitan Green Belt. The proposed development includes a new access, entrance gates and driveway road which fall outside of the residential curtilage of the dwelling.
"The proposed development is therefore inappropriate development which is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt. The proposed development would fail to preserve the openness of the Green Belt and would conflict with the purposes of including land within the Green Belt.
"No very special circumstances have been demonstrated that are sufficient to outweigh the significant harm to the Green Belt and to the purposes of including land within the Green Belt."
Just one of many planning battles Lord Sugar has faced
The news is sure to create further frustration for Alan Sugar as the rejection as part of a long series of planning battles he has had with Epping Forest District Council.
Previous proposals included demolishing the 115-year-old house in Chigwell to build a new one with various amenities, but these plans were rejected due to their impact on Green Belt land and due to the large size of the property.
Despite approval for some modifications, such as demolishing a conservatory and constructing newhouse extensions, other further proposals, including a second outbuilding, were rejected by the council due to their distance from the main house and unnecessary size.
The second outbuilding was originally meant to be 100ft away from the house and have a gym and study, but was said to be large enough for four people to live, and so were ultimately rejected.
Lord Sugar had to revise his plans, instead proposing a smaller, single-storey'garden room' outbuilding, that was ultimately approved in March this year.
