Cate Blanchett ditches plan to extend her £5m UK home after furious neighbours said she was ‘destroying their holidays’
CATE Blanchett has abandoned controversial building plans at her £5million Cornish holiday home following backlash from neighbours over noise.
The Hollywood actress was accused of “destroying family holidays” by neighbours in the picturesque seaside town of Mawgan Porth, Cornwall, after trying to turn a field into a car park.
The Australian actress, 54, and her husband Andrew Upton bought and demolished a former cottage in Mawgan Porth in 2020 to make way for their five-bedroom eco-home.
As a result, she was accused of damaging a sensitive coastal wildlife habitat and of making a “blatant land grab” after purchasing a neighbouring field to use for a drive and car parking and of having a “total disregard” for neighbours with the renovations.
Land Registry records show that the couple bought the former cottage for £1.6million, and then shelled out £1.25million a year later for the adjoining field.
Cate was seeking to turn the field, which is being used as a construction compound during works, into a new access and parking area which would give level access to the pad, saving her and her guests from trekking up steps to the front.
Now following the backlash, Lord of the Rings star Cate has formally withdrawn the plans in a letter to Cornwall Council.
The letter – which uses the couple’s married name Mr and Mrs Upton – gave no reason for the decision but the ongoing building works on the house have angered some in the town.
Karen Burgess, who owns a neighbouring holiday let, claimed noise and disruption from Cate’s building works ruined the holidays of guests and cost her £60,000 in refunds and discounts.
She said: “I am deeply concerned that there has already been a total disregard for the noise that has destroyed the family holidays of all my guests throughout 2023.
“The losses are more than £60,000 last year.
“Never before in the bay have we ever experienced such a blatant disregard for the people who flock here for their holidays and residents enjoyment of the area during the holiday season.
“We thought the work was finally over and now there is a new application for ground works. This work should NOT be permitted during the holiday season.
“I expect the Council to severely restrict the days in which this work can take place , if indeed it is ever approved.”
However, a spokesperson for Watershedd – the architect firm behind Cate’s build – denied her claims and said the noise is coming from other nearby developments.
A spokesman said: “She cannot be referring to our clients’ property where there were no noisy works during the peak holiday period last year, once again, our clients’ property has been mistaken for other works going on in Mawgan Porth.”
The firm added that it has been in regular communication with neighbours to lessen any concerns around construction noise and answer any questions.
The plans for the field also included a permeable green grasscrete surface to blend in with the landscape with a turning head, retaining stone wall and native planting.
Inside the nastiest celebrity neighbour rows
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, 50, 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.
An ecological survey found the maritime grassland site to be a suitable habitat for a variety of wildlife species including slow worms.
As part of mitigation measures, they would have needed to add bat boxes for roosting and reptile refuges using logs for winter hibernation.
Part of the field would have been used for ground source heat pumps to power the whole house.
A representative for the actress previously told The Sun: “Our clients purchased the land to preserve the environment and protect it from over development.
“They are merely reinstating a pre-existing accessway.”
Mawgan Porth has been dubbed “Hollywood-on-sea” due to the influx of celebrities looking at or having bought properties there post-pandemic.
Aquaman’s Jason Momoa, action film star Jason Statham and actor Stanley Tucci are just some of the A-List celebrities reported to have properties in the village.
Cate also owns a £5million country estate near East Sussex, where she also bought up land next door – a £1.5million farmhouse with 100 acres.
The Sun has contacted her representatives for comment.
