The 'field gate' at Turville Court
A couple who made a fortune from setting up a nationwide bed retailing company have been told they must pull down a metal gate at their Chiltern mansion.
Michael Clare and his wife Carol, who made an estimated £200m fortune when they sold their Dreams chain of shops, had applied for retrospective planning permission for a ‘field gate’ at Turville Court, in Buckinghamshire. The pair have now been told by Wycombe District Council to take down the structure, dubbed ‘hideous’ by opponents.
Outdoors campaigners welcomed the authority’s decision, and demanded the council act to have the gate removed from the site at the £22m estate.
Among those who objected to the planning bid were the Ramblers, the Chiltern Society, the Chilterns Conservation Board, Turville Parish Council and the Open Spaces Society.
OSS general secretary Kate Ashbrook said: “This site is in the heart of the Chilterns area of outstanding natural beauty. The Clares falsely claimed that it was a ‘field gate’ but it’s nothing of the kind. It’s a dark green, metal wall on top of the hill, which is a hideous intrusion and blocks the view from the adjacent bridleway.
“The so-called ‘gate’ is therefore unlawful, planning permission having been refused, and it should be removed forthwith. We have written to the council to find out when this will be.”
Rejecting the retrospective application, Wycombe council said: “The gates appear unattractive, out of keeping and visually detrimental to this rural location, causing adverse visual harm to the rural character and appearance of the surrounding open countryside and to the special landscape qualities of the surrounding Chilterns AONB.
“The structure is clearly visible from the adjacent bridleway and impacts adversely upon previously available views from the bridleway to the detriment of the users’ public enjoyment of this attractive part of the Chilterns AONB.”
The Clares built their bed empire from a single shop in Uxbridge, west London. The company was sold to a private-equity group for a sum estimated to be more than £200m.
