Row Blows Up Over Movie Producer's Underground Swimming Pool
Neighbours on Dalling Road unhappy about planning approval
Picture:
David Money Architects
A movie producer’s bid to build a subterranean swimming pool and Turkish bath in his Hammersmith home has enraged neighbours, including an author and Tony Blair’s former chief of staff.
Liam Beatty — who worked on a big screen adaptation of Enduring Love starring Bill Nighy and Daniel Craig — had the basement leisure complex approved on 11 June.
Blueprints submitted to Hammersmith and Fulham Council show a sauna, gym, and home cinema would also be built below the Victorian house and garden in Dalling Road.
Among nine neighbours who objected were Sarah Helm, 62, a history author and former diplomatic editor for The Independent newspaper.
With her husband Jonathan Powell, 62, the former chief of staff to Tony Blair, she told the council’s planning committee the disruption would be “catastrophic”.
“It’s a huge swimming pool at the end of our gardens, which are not very long,” Ms Helm said. “The whole atmosphere of our gardens is going to be ruined by this. This is going to cause tremendous disruption.
“My office is in my garden. I’m a writer and I built my office at the end of my garden to have peace and quiet. Now it’s going to be at the wall of a swimming pool.
“I have a contract to complete a book I’m working on with a publisher and I won’t be able to complete it without moving out.”
A spokesman for Mr Beatty said: “We do sympathise with anyone who has to live close to a building site, especially those who work from home.” But he said a “balance” had to be struck with any neighbour’s right to build.
Ms Helm also complained that a tall tree “that should have a preservation order on it” would be killed if the construction goes ahead. Although Mr Beatty’s spokesman said a report by a tree expert had shown “significant roots are unlikely to be found in the excavation area”.
Before councillors voted the plans through, planning officers had recommended the application for approval. They said no “significant harm” would be caused to trees or to the appearance of the local area, which falls in the Bradmore Conservation Area.
After the committee meeting, and the plans had been approved, Ms Helm added: “It’s farcical that our tree would just be replaced. No one from the council has come to look at the site.
“My entire livelihood will be damaged. I’m going to have drilling below where I’m working. It’s going to be catastrophic.”
A spokesman for Mr Beatty said: “In order for any planning system to function effectively and fairly it must balance the rights of these affected neighbours with the rights of residents wishing to carry out carefully considered alterations to their homes, and we believe the council has achieved this balance in granting consent in this case.
“My client has submitted fully to this democratic process and understands his responsibilities under the conditional consent granted.”
Owen Sheppard – Local Democracy Reporter
June 12, 2019