Blair's home plans upset new neighbour

13 April 2012

For many householders, the prospect of having a former Prime Minister as a neighbour would offer a welcome slice of kudos.

But not, it seems, for one resident of Connaught Square, who has formally objected to the council about building work that Tony and Cherie Blair intend to carry out on their £3.65million London townhouse.

Retirement home: the Blairs' plans to renovate their Connaught Square property have attracted complaints

On May 3, the day Labour is bracing itself for an anti-Blair backlash in the local council elections, the Prime Minister will have

one eye on a planning meeting of Westminster City Council, where a rather more parochial battle will be won and lost.

The unnamed neighbour has objected to the Blairs' plans to install CCTV cameras and solar panels, on the grounds that they would ruin the look of the Grade II-listed terrace.

He or she has also complained about the Blairs' plans to build a roof terrace-on an extension at the back of the property, which would overlook the small courtyard gardens of neighbouring properties.

If the objections are upheld by the council, the Blairs could be forced to abandon plans to move into Connaught Square when the Prime Minister leaves Downing Street in the summer, as the CCTV cameras, in particular, are an essential part of their security arrangements. If they were not allowed to install the cameras, Mr Blair's police protection officers would almost certainly veto the move.

Ominously, the six-man sub-committee which will rule on the Blairs' house plans includes five Conservatives.

However, a leaked council memo obtained by online diarist and former Tory parliamentary candidate Iain Dale suggests that the objections will be thrown out at next week's planning meeting.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in