Inside the nastiest celeb neighbour rows from Robbie Williams’ feud with rock legend to Gordon Ramsay’s bitter battle
MILLIONS of pounds might be able to buy a dream home – but it doesn’t guarantee a smooth ride with neighbours.
Just ask the likes of Robbie Williams, Gordon Ramsay, Billie Faiers and Holly Willoughby who are just a few of the celebs that have clashed with other homeowners and local councils over their property plans.
We dive into some of the most high-profile planning fall outs of recent years:
Robbie Williams
POP icon Robbie’s ownership of a huge south west London pad hasn’t been without its headaches.
Most recently he’s felt the ire of a neighbour objecting to a proposal to trim some of the property’s trees which are said to be blocking light into the building.
Robbie, 49, wants to prune 14 plants but has been branded a “vandal” because of it.
A neighbour wrote to planners: “Hello there, I think these trees should be left as chopping down healthy trees is an act of environmental vandalism.
“Shame on anyone wanting to destroy our leafy friends. They give us life – we should respect theirs.”
Previously Robbie clashed with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy over plans to renovate his £17.5million Grade II listed mansion.
The rocker argued unsuccessfully that vibrations could damage ancient paintings and frescoes in his home, where he has lived for over 50 years.
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon’s idyllic Cornish bolt hole has been soured in recent years due to a backlash from locals during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gordon’s issues with Cornwall started in 2020 when he, wife Tana and their five kids upped sticks from London to live in their £4million holiday home.
They made the 246 mile trip when people could be fined for any non-essential travel and were urged not to stay in their second homes.
He was called “disgusting” and accused of “flouting government rules” by one local, despite the star insisting he had done nothing wrong at the time.
They raged: “Don’t you realise that by doing that you’ve possibly brought the virus with you and because Cornwall is not your main residence, if you and your family get sick you will place yet more strain on an already fragile infrastructure.
“I’m reporting you to the police. What you’ve done is against the law and I hope they force you back to London.”
The furore led Gordon to say he hates the Cornish people.
Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan
Mark and Michelle are happily living inside their £3.5million dream Essex home but the process wasn’t without its hiccups.
They had to amend plans along the way and, to their credit, dealt with all the setbacks in the right manner.
Their parish council previously objected to the size of the project and the height of proposed security gates and walls.
Planning documents said: “This new amended application further increases the size of the dwelling, and the Parish Council feels that these proposed changes increase the size of the dwelling over the original dwelling size to such a degree that it would, for reasons of its bulk and size, now represent an unacceptable increase and as such have a detrimental impact on the green belt.”
However, it wasn’t long before the proposal was deemed suitable and work quickly commenced.
There was more strife when plans to bolster security at the property, turning it into a ‘fortress’, were rejected due to the proposed 2.1metre boundary wall being deemed out of keeping with the area.
Holly Willoughby
Holly upset neighbours in 2021 when she revealed plans to extend the home she shares with husband Dan Baldwin and children Harry, 13, Belle, 11, and Chester, eight.
The couple – who purchased the property in 2011 – revealed they wanted to add a first floor side and front extension to the huge six-bedroom home.
Their original plans, which included other alterations, were rejected by the local council – but they were later granted permission.
Locals were unimpressed by the TV favourite’s renovations and neighbour Liliana Velez slammed the move.
She ranted: “Having the noise all week all day for so many months is not the standard of living in such an expensive area to live…
“I do not pay taxes to get this level of disruption, it is not quality of life.”
Billie Faiers
Billie and Greg, who are parents to Nellie, eight, and five-year-old Arthur, bought their four-bedroom 1920s property in Brentwood, Essex, for £1.4 million in January 2020.
The couple have since transformed the run-down house into their dream five bed home with an eye-watering renovation that included a two-storey extension, gym, games room and huge walk-in wardrobe.
It was a hellish experience, and at one stage they were refused planning permission amid uproar from the neighbours, who claimed the works were “excessive” and not in keeping with other properties on the street.
Mrs Hinch
Mrs Hinch’s secret war with neighbours forced her and husband Jamie to splash out on a new secluded mansion.
The couple snapped up a five bedroom countryside farmhouse after clashing with residents on their road over privacy issues.
Explaining why the couple have now decided to move on, the mum-of-two said: “I won’t go into too much detail because I wouldn’t want to give any satisfaction to the cruel person people involved.
“But Jamie has wanted to move for a while due to the privacy issue which came about after we had extended the house but I was in such a mess because I didn’t want to move.
“I was crying to him saying this is my home, I didn’t want to lose it.
“So I promised him I could fix it hence my weird to basketball net looking trees which you may have noticed on my stories at some points.
“Also new panelled fencing with no holes and a crazy CCTV system. I really did my best behind-the-scenes guys but it wasn’t enough in the end.”
“This is a nice part of the world, full of leading business executives, and they don’t expect to be subjected to such language.