Ant McPartlin loses battle to build 'imposing' garage on London home

The Saturday Night Takeaway host, 47, wanted to demolish an existing double garage and build a new one with accommodation in the roof above.

But officials at the local council rejected the proposed development, saying it would have an ‘unacceptable’ impact on the designated conservation area.

McPartlin was previously given the go-ahead for a car port canopy in his front garden and masked his identity when he applied for planning permission by using the name of a boozy love cheat from his favourite novel.

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In a design statement, McPartlin’s planning agent said: ‘This proposal is for the replacement of the existing car port with a new garage with room in the roof space.

‘The replaced garage will occupy the same footprint as the existing car port and the ridge of the new roof will be approximately 1.25m higher than the existing double ridge but will have a slightly smaller mass.

‘The proposals….do not have a negative impact on the area or the amenity of neighbouring houses and is in keeping with the scale and character of the adjacent houses and conservation area.’

Ant Mcpartlin (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

‘The garden layout will remain similar to the existing’, the revised plans add.

McPartlin’s three-storey luxury home in Wimbledon, south London, boasts five reception rooms, a large open-plan kitchen, cinema, sun room, larder, walk-in wardrobe, study and office.

He bought the pad in 2018 but did not move in until £1.6million worth of renovations were carried out, and has since added a swimming pool complete with Victorian-style changing rooms.

He was also granted planning permission for side and rear extensions and a new front entrance.

McPartlin withdrew his plans for a new garage after officials at the council said they were unable to support it, despite no objections from neighbours.

The decision was revealed following a Freedom of Information request after all previously publicly available documents were removed from the council’s website.

In an email to McPartlin’s planning agent, planning officer Stephen Hill said: ‘I am afraid we cannot support the proposal.

But officials at the local council rejected the proposed development, saying it would have an ‘unacceptable’ impact on the designated conservation area (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

‘The road is characterised by spacious frontages. Garages should be, and invariably are, set back behind the building line.

‘If you are building a new garage, they should preferably be behind the building line of the house.

‘The existing car port is quite neatly set back and is significantly more lightweight and less imposing than the extension your client proposes, which is effectively a 1.5 storey garage and extension with living accommodation, in front of the house.

‘An extension of this kind in the foreground of the house will have an unacceptable impact on the conservation area and the character of the street.

‘It is quite significantly higher than the car port, as well as being a more solid structure and will be visible from the street. It will be quite imposing on the descent of the road.

‘I am sorry that this is not the outcome that you want but the more we looked at it, the clearer it became that it would be really quite damaging to the conservation area.’