Bill Bailey wins neighbour war to build pool in garden after they moaned it was a ‘noisy and smelly zoo’
STRICTLY winner Bill Bailey has won his battle with neighbours to install a swimming pool in his back garden after they moaned it was already a “noisy and smelly zoo”.
The comic wants to convert two separate apartments at his Victorian villa into a single £2m two-bedroom pad.
But the 58-year-old riled neighbours in Hammersmith in west London over plans to dig up his garden and add a pool house complete with an extended living and dining area.
They blasted the proposed development over fears of noise from building work, saying they were already fed up of crowing cockerels and barking dogs from his home menagerie.
Bailey, who won the Strictly Come Dancing final in 2020 alongside Strictly‘s professional dancer Oti Mabuse, also keeps birds, rabbits, cats and ducks at his home which he shares with wife Kristin and son Dax.
The neighbours also complained the new build would be a “nuisance” and moaned building work would add to the “unpleasant smell” already coming from Bailey’s “zoo”.
Bailey had originally been given the green light five years ago but was unable to carry out building work within the three-year deadline because of Covid restrictions.
After re-applying to the local council for planning permission and submitting revised plans for a smaller pool, reducing it from 42x16ft to 20x10ft he was hit with objections.
In a letter to the council, one neighbour blasted: “We are very concerned about the pool on two grounds.
“First it would (when taken together with the zoo) result in major overdevelopment of the site which is after all in the centre of London surrounded by other properties and not in a secluded countryside location.
“Secondly, it would add noise and, in all likelihood, additional light pollution to the existing ‘nuisance’.
Another resident said: “During the current hot weather, there has been an unpleasant smell which seems to come from the zoo.
“While the designs look attractive and we have no wish to prevent the Baileys from improving their properties (and do not object to the proposed conversion of the two flats into one) we are very concerned about the implications for noise and light pollution of the proposed ground floor extension to the flat and in particular the pool.
“The fact is that the activities on site in its present configuration already produce noise and light pollution, deprivation of light and, it seems, smell.
“This constitutes a clear nuisance which the Baileys unfortunately do nothing to mitigate.”
A third neighbour added: “Whilst I support the applicant’s right to develop their property and specifically laud the completion of the pool, I am concerned about the increased noise and disturbance that will inevitably result from the construction and use of this new amenity.”
The pool house will include an extended living and dining area with a moveable rising and lowering pool deck, and a basement plant room accessed by a stepped garden terrace.
The proposed works also include a glazed roof covering to the side of the shared access between the two properties, a new internal timber stairway and external alterations.
Despite the objections, Bailey was been given the go ahead for the conversion and pool by officials at Hammersmith and Fulham council.
Planning officer Elliot Brown ruled: “It is considered that the proposal would not have an unacceptable impact on the amenities of the occupiers of neighbouring residential properties, and would be of an acceptable visual appearance.”
Bailey bought his home for £350,000 in 2004 but according to property website The Move Market it is now believed to be worth £812,000 and possibly £2m with the pool extension.
Other famous residents who live nearby include MP Michael Gove, Top Gear presenter James May, comedian Miranda Hart and actor Nicholas Lyndhurst.
In a 2015 interview with TV’s Lorraine, Bailey said: “We started off with a couple of rescue animals like a dog from the pound then another dog to keep it company, and then a cat from the pound.
“Then it just snowballed a bit, now we’ve got quite a lot of animals, birds, rabbits, ducks and chickens.
“The ducks come in the house and chickens crow in the morning. “It’s a little bit tricky in west London.”