Billie Faiers in new council row over building 7ft wall at £1.4m Essex mansion
BILLIE Faiers has lost her battle with planners to build a 7ft barrier at her Essex mansion.
The reality star, 33, wanted to build a 12ft-wide solid wooden gate with brick piers at the entrance to her £1.4milion home to boost security.
But officials at the local council blasted the “imposing” and “domineering” barrier, saying it would block off the house from the street.
And they said the black-painted gate would clash with her 1920s Arts and Crafts style pad and harm the character of the area.
They added: “As such, the proposed gate and brick pillars, by virtue of their height, design and infilled nature, would result in a domineering impact on the surrounding street scene that would fully enclose the site at street level.”
Former Towie star Billie and husband Greg Shepherd had previously been given the go-ahead to demolish a garage and conservatory, and build three extensions including a new porch at their four-bedroom home.
She was also granted planning permission for a new in-out drive and front gates but then submitted revised plans.
In the application form, her planning agent said: “The applicant’s landscape designer has proposed a different design to the front gates.
“These will feature brick piers with solid gates to provide privacy for the homeowner. The homeowner is a local celebrity and therefore wants to achieve a good level of privacy from the roadside.”
But officials at the council threw out the amended plans for the gates despite no objections from neighbours.
The planning officer said: “The brick pillars and gate proposed are not considered contextually appropriate.
“The proposed brick pillars are both wider and taller, which appear imposing on the surrounding street scene.
“Further, the gates lack transparency, completely screening the site from views within and appearing as a barrier between the site and the road, which would alienate it from the community by virtue of it being infilled and the gate height.”
In August 2020, when they bought the home, Billie had admitted than she wasn’t speaking to the neighbours, who wrote to the council to oppose some of her renovation plans.
‘We’ve not seen anyone. But it’s just not a great start, is it?,” she revealed.
“The house is so old, whoever was going to buy it was going to have to renovate.
“There’s only one neighbour to the side of us and he had a lot of reasons as to why he didn’t want us to go ahead, but it was getting a bit silly in the end. It’s been a very long journey already and it’s about to get even more pressurised once the builders start work.”
