JAMES Corden has won the planning battle to build an extension at his new £11.5M London home after it was hit with a barrage of complaints and branded an “eyesore”.
The TV host bought the swanky property last year and put in plans to the local council for an add-on with a gym, office, “den”, spa and shower room.
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But the design was blasted for being oversized and more like a bungalow than a single-storey extension – with 18 letters of objection.
One complainant claimed that the family already created enough noise, adding: “One of them plays the drums, which can often be heard on my terrace and occasionally inside my flat even with the windows closed.
“What happens if they decide to move the drum kit out of the house and put it in the den?”
The funnyman’s planning team applied for a Lawful Development Certificate, which proposes that the plans don’t require full planning permission if it means a certain criteria such as the size of the structure.
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The planning officer agreed in their report that the application had satisfied requirements.
They dismissed any complaints about noise and use of the outbuilding as moot, but in its decision notice stated that James’ construction team should be careful not to damage nearby trees and can’t be used as a “granny flat”.
Some residents, conservation groups and the local society had expressed concerns over the plans.
Many question the size of it and the impact on surrounding trees in neighbouring gardens even though none will be felled.
Last year Gavin and Stacey star James spoke about moving back to England with his family – wife Julia and three kids Max, 12, Carey, 9, and Charlotte, 7.
“It’s been brilliant, and hard, and overwhelming. I think moving house is hard enough, moving children, moving schools – picking it up and going so far, from everything they knew from life in Los Angeles – it’s been a real challenge,” he told the Today show.
“It’s been tough. But at the same time, immensely rewarding. But my son was 3 when we moved [to America], my daughter was 12 weeks. When we left, he was 12, my daughter was 8, and our younger daughter – who is an American, and we treat her as such …
“No, really for us, it was the notion that it was time. We wanted them to know their grandparents.
“And with my son finishing 6th grade, it was just an absolute pull to go home, and root that period of their lives in — we wanted them to know Britain, and their extended family.”