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David and Victoria Beckham win battle over Love Island plans
The celebrity couple were granted planning permission back in 2020 for a kidney-shaped pond in the sprawling gardens of their Cotswold mansion.
But the green light was only given with extremely specific conditions to ensure it would “sit well within its rural context.”
Concern had previously been raised that the Beckhams had overstepped the planning consent when the pond and a ‘private beach’ appeared in a Netflix documentary.
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A fresh planning application has now been approved to satisfy two conditions laid out when the Beckhams were later granted permission for the “enlargement of approved pond and inclusion of an island”.
The Beckhams, who have previously been accused of ‘drip-feeding’ applications, are now seeking additional planning permission to build an extra section of driveway within their garden.
They want to link their driveway to a recently approved new access road from Ledwell Lane that was built to avoid having to use a single-lane cul-de-sac described as the sole access to Soho Farmhouse.
The couple were told that before the site comes into use, details of external lighting must be submitted and approved in writing by the local planning authority.
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They had to show the type and location of the lighting so it could be “clearly demonstrated that light spillage into wildlife corridors will be minimised as much as possible.”
The council said: “Under no circumstances should any other external lighting be installed without prior consent from the local planning authority.”
This was to “protect foraging and commuting bats” the report added.
The second condition the Beckhams have now been given permission to discharge is the requirement to submit a comprehensive landscape scheme.
The council added: “The scheme must show details of all planting areas, tree and plant species, numbers and planting sizes.
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“The proposed means of enclosure and screening should also be included, together with details of any mounding, walls and fences and hard surface materials to be used throughout the proposed development.”
As part of the freshly approved application, Portus + Whitton set out a framework for maintenance of the site for a five year period.
Images produced by the Beckhams also showed the type of lighting and the location of trees that are planned by them.
A decision on the application was made by West Oxfordshire Council earlier this month.
The Beckhams have previously submitted multiple applications for work at their Grade-II listed country house.
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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, a tennis court, a treehouse, a security hut, an extension to the garage outbuilding and a landscaped pond.
One angry neighbour said earlier he “wouldn’t be surprised if the celebrity couple applied for a funfair ride to be installed in the garden”.
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The Beckhams also want to replace a short section of temporary construction track from the boundary of their garden to the machinery store.
When the access lane to Ledwell Lane was approved, the couple angered neighbours over plans to build a new access road to their Cotswolds home to try to avoid traffic heading to Soho Farmhouse.
The celebrity pair have applied for planning permission to turn an agricultural track into a tarmac-laid access for their Maplewood Barn home.
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They have applied to West Oxfordshire District Council for a change of use of part of the existing agricultural track to form a secondary residential access.
The couple want to extend the track to connect to their existing driveway and improve the existing dropped kerb access and gates onto Ledwell Lane.
The Beckhams said previously through a representative: “Ledwell Lane is a two-way rural road operating within capacity with a benign collision record; Tracey Lane is a single-track cul-de-sac serving residential properties, Great Tew Estate land and the only visitor access to Soho Farmhouse, experiencing high traffic and frequent conflicts and delays at peak periods.”
But the bid was met with criticism from neighbours, and one wrote in an objection: “The house already has a perfectly serviceable access road, so why is another stretch of tarmac laid through the woods deemed a good idea.
A decision on the new driveway access will be made by West Oxfordshire District Council at a later date.
According to The Sun, the hosts will join YouTubers Thomas Holland and James Engelsman as well as social media star Francis Bourgeois in series seven.
Having presented Top Gear together for over a decade, the famed trio departed the BBC show back in 2015, moving on to Prime Video’s The Grand Tour.
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The petrol enthusiasts are expected to help ensure the show’s reboot gets off to a smooth and welcoming start, according to co-creator and TV producer Andy Wilman.
Mr Wilman, who is also executive producer of Clarkson’s Farm, told The Sun that the guys will do cameos as they “pass that baton on” in the series which debuts on Friday, September 4.
The TV producer told 3Bs radio at the Buckingham Literary Festival: “We’ve got three guys coming soon with a new Grand Tour and we’ve got behind them.
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“We’re really supporting them. Our guys are in the shows doing cameos, so we’re wishing them well because we do want to pass that baton on.”
This will be the first time in almost two years the Top Gear originals, who went their own ways professionally, will be seen together since September 2024.
That was when The Grand Tour: One For The Road was released on Prime Video, marking an end to over two decades of Mr Clarkson, Mr May and Mr Hammond working together.
The 52-year-old said that neither she nor her boyfriend receives a free subscription from Amazon, even though they front one of the streamer’s biggest British shows.
Ms Hogan made the admission in an interview with content creator Lucas Stewart on his YouTube channel.
Asked directly whether she was given a complimentary Amazon Prime or Prime Video account, the Irish former model and actor replied: “I share my son’s.
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“We don’t get any goodies.”
She went on to explain that sharing subscriptions is simply how many younger viewers now choose to spend their money.
“Children nowadays are just like, ‘Yeah, I’ll just get this subscription,’ and that’s their way of spending money whereas we used to buy cigarettes and more alcohol,” she said.
“This is their spending money, so I share it with him.”
Clarkson’s Farm, which follows Mr Clarkson’s attempts to run his Diddly Squat farm in the Cotswolds, has been one of Prime Video’s breakout UK successes since it launched in 2021.
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Ms Hogan has become a key part of the series, often seen running the Diddly Squat Farm Shop and appearing alongside Mr Clarkson and farmer Kaleb Cooper.
In the interview, she also reflected on how the attention from the show has changed her life, but the Independent report focuses on the unusual fact that one of Prime Video’s best‑known on‑screen personalities still relies on a family login.
Amazon Prime currently costs £8.99 a month in the UK, with membership including access to Prime Video, music, deliveries and other services.
The company has tightened its rules on account sharing in recent years, but Ms Hogan’s comments suggest that, inside the Clarkson household at least, the stars are still paying customers.
Mr Clarkson, who lives in Oxfordshire, hosted a fundraising auction for Sir Chris’s Tour de 4 charity at a clay pigeon shoot in Northamptonshire, organised by Mr Horner, who lives near the Oxfordshire border close to Banbury.
The event, held at the Marston Estate, raised £1 million in a single afternoon, with much of the final total coming from an extraordinary intervention by Mr Clarkson, as The Times reports.
Speaking on his Sporting Misadventures podcast, Sir Chris, 50, said: “Jeremy Clarkson did the auction at the Tour de 4 clay shoot that Christian Horner put on and we raised £1 million in an afternoon.
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“We got to £850,000 with all the tickets and the tables and the auction, and they wanted to hit £1 million.”
At that point, Mr Clarkson turned to the guests who had flown in by helicopter and asked for £10,000 from each of them.
Sir Chris revealed: “Jeremy said, ‘Right, there are people here who have arrived in helicopters.
“‘Everyone here who has got a helicopter, I want ten grand.’ So he went around the room going, ‘Ten grand from you, ten grand from you,’ and he got £150,000 from people, and that’s what made it up to £1 million.
“It was astonishing. I don’t think anybody else would have got away with doing that, but he has that presence. It was a fantastic afternoon, really good fun.”
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Sir Chris, a six-time Olympic gold medallist, founded the Tour de 4 cycle challenge after being diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer.
He has since become a high-profile campaigner for better screening and awareness, using the event to “change the perception” of what it means to live with an advanced cancer diagnosis.
Mr Clarkson, known for Top Gear, The Grand Tour and Amazon’s Clarkson’s Farm, revealed earlier this year that he had undergone surgery for an aggressive form of prostate cancer after it was picked up in a routine medical.
He has since said he is in remission and urged men to get checked.
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Tour de 4 will return to Glasgow this September, starting and finishing at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
The inaugural ride attracted more than 5,000 participants and raised over £3 million for cancer charities, with this year’s event again supporting Macmillan Cancer Support, Breast Cancer Now, Cure Leukaemia, Prostate Cancer UK and Maggie’s.
Mr Hoy has said his diagnosis has changed the way he looks at each day. Speaking earlier this year, he reflected: “I never imagined that I’d be able to get to this point where I’m actually just living life and not just living life, but actually appreciating it more than ever.
“It’s just about appreciating the mundane fun of life, the mundane elements of life which can be wonderful.”
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