Thierry Henry 1 - Residents nil... former Arsenal striker gets go-ahead on fish tank

 
Kicking off: Thierry Henry's plans for a huge fish tank
Rob Parsons11 May 2012

Thierry Henry has scored a victory over his neighbours after being given the go-ahead to demolish his Hampstead property and replace it with a larger home to accommodate a 40ft-high fish tank.

Camden council granted the former Arsenal striker permission to level his existing £10 million house, designed by former president of Royal British Architects Sir Richard MacCormac.

Henry wants to create a 25,000-litre aquarium which would rise from a swimming pool, bar and cinema in the basement to the master bedroom on the second floor.

Today actor Tom Conti, whose garden backs onto Henry’s house, criticised council planners and called the proposed development a “monstrosity”.

The 70-year-old star of Shirley Valentine and Street Dance 2 is one of a group of residents opposing the plan to knock down the property, which is next to a Grade II-listed house.

He said: “It will be horrific, he is building down and that will mean driving metal. It is horrible. They will have to tear the house down. There will be bulldozers, it will be a nightmare. But Camden council does not care about people.

“I applied for permission to put a conservatory on my terrace and they turned it down on the grounds it was inappropriate for the neighbourhood, but now there is going to be this monstrosity on the next road.

“I don’t think there is anything we can do, the council decides these things and that is that. Hampstead should not be part of Camden, it should have its own local authority.”

The Heath & Hampstead Society lodged objections prior to last night’s council meeting. A spokesman called the design “over-bulky, ungainly, squat in proportion, lumpish” and with “no style or elegance”.

Henry, who did not attend the meeting, claims his property has aged badly and is no longer “fit as a family home”, according to the French striker’s architects. The proposed new house also features solar panels and a “biodiverse living roof”.

The 34-year-old, who now plays for New York Red Bulls, bought the home in 2001 with his former partner, model Claire Merry.

A Camden council spokeswoman said the decision was taken after “careful consideration”, adding: “Planning officers consider every application on a case-by-case basis, assessing the proposal against the council’s policies and guidelines.”

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