David and Victoria Beckham have been accused of ‘drip-feeding’ development at their £6m Cotswolds home.
The celebrity duo have submitted multiple applications for work at their Grade-II listed country house at Maplewood Barn, near Great Tew.
Since buying the three listed barns for £6,150,000 in 2016, the couple have added a new driveway and gates, an additional garage outbuilding, tennis court, treehouse, security hut, extension to the garage outbuilding and a landscaped pond.
The latest application submitted to Oxfordshire County Council is to convert the roof space of an outbuilding into a new home office.
The building is already being used for garden stores and an office but the Beckhams want to add conservation rooflights and access via a Tallet staircase.
Planning documents say the “minor alterations” will “not impact on the appearance of the outbuilding or harm the wider setting” and “there is no impact on neighbouring properties”.
But two neighbours say due to “the drip feeding” of various planning applications, including a log store, it amounts to “residential by the back door”.
One furious neighbour lodged an official response to the application, and said: “Many people locally indicated to West Oxfordshire Council the increase in the residential curtilage of this property will see an ever-increasing number of buildings and to date we have all been proved right.”
Meanwhile, the Beckhams have withdrawn a further planning application to build a second access road to their home.
They had planned to build a temporary 250-metre access road which would be in place for two years so an allotment and glasshouse could be built.
Representatives of the Beckhams have been contacted for comment.
