EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Ricky Gervais wins two-year battle to construct £5m mansion
Ricky Gervais has finally won a two-year battle to build a new £5million riverside mansion – but only after stumping up £10,000 to pay for his carbon footprint.
The comedian and actor, 64, wants to demolish his existing flood-hit home and splash out on a new one – complete with a gym and tennis court – in the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
Council officials threw out his original bid on the grounds of ‘inappropriate’ development in a high-flood-risk zone, and also cited ‘insufficient’ information on climate change.
Gervais then submitted revised plans, raising the ground floor by 3ft, and signed an agreement vowing to pay £10,584 to the council’s Carbon Offset Fund.
Planners have now given the proposed development the green light after there were no objections from neighbours.
Gervais first applied to knock down his ‘poorly designed’ home and build a new one in 2024, but the plans were sunk by council officials due to fears over potential flooding.
Ricky Gervais wants to demolish his existing flood-hit home and splash out on a new one – complete with a gym and tennis court – in the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire
The After Life and The Office star then submitted revised plans, scrapping a proposed side-wing and reducing an external staircase.
The neo-Georgian style new-build will boast a grand entrance hall, galleried landing, home gym, drawing room, reading area, lift and master bedroom with a terrace overlooking an existing tennis court and pond.
Gervais will need to apply for a special licence from conservationists Natural England before building work can start after a colony of bats was found roosting in the loft.
And he will have to build a special bat loft in his new garage and put up two bat boxes in nearby trees as part of a Bat Mitigation Strategy.
He has also been ordered to build a 26ft-wide buffer zone along the Thames as a condition of planning permission granted by Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council.
Gervais also owns a £14.75million nine-bedroom mansion in Hampstead, north-west London, with a spa and gym, plus two New York flats.
Roxy throws a hen do hoedown
Bride-to-be Roxy Horner, who is soon to marry comedian Jack Whitehall
Jack Whitehall’s stag do comprised a six-hour Soho pub crawl with pals including James Corden and Jamie Redknapp, which the comedian said left his memory ‘patchy’.
His bride-to-be, Roxy Horner, was, however, determined no one would forget her hen do.
The model, 34, wore a cowgirl hat as she arrived in a pink limousine at the Hippodrome Casino with seven friends including Jack’s sister Molly, to watch the West End male strip show Magic Mike. Roxy took to the stage at one point while a dancer gyrated around her.
They also had a racy private dance class led by Strictly pro Luba Mushtuk. Alongside a photo she posted online of the group, Luba wrote: ‘Hoping my choreography shows up on the big day.’
Roxy and friends at a private dance class led by Strictly pro Luba Mushtuk
Having starred in Hollywood thrillers including the X-Men films, James McAvoy is used to seeing his face on big screens.
But the Scottish actor, 46, is still self-conscious about his image.
‘When your phone takes it upon itself to show you [a photo of] yourself from seven or eight years ago, you’re like, ‘Thank you iPhone, I hate you’,’ he rages, referring to the iPhone’s Memories setting, which shows users old snaps on the anniversaries of when they were taken.
Danny Dyer feeling short-changed by West Ham owners
Accused of stinginess by some disgruntled fans, West Ham owner David Sullivan and his sidekick Baroness (Karren) Brady have made sure of squeezing some cash out of their star player. Captain Jarrod Bowen was told he would have to cough up if wanted to entertain friends and family at the club’s London Stadium.
‘Jarrod and I went halves on a [private hospitality] box – the club didn’t give their captain one for free,’ reveals his father-in-law, the television star Danny Dyer, whose daughter Dani married Bowen last year. And it hasn’t been the best investment, with the Hammers in the relegation places.
‘This isn’t the best season to have your first box,’ Dyer says. ‘You can have all the trimmings, but if the team ain’t doing well, it spoils the day.’
Thyra’s job news fails to impress
Thyra Goldsmith has been crowned one of society’s ‘hottest young eligibles’ by Tatler magazine
Crowned one of society’s ‘hottest young eligibles’ by Tatler magazine, Thyra Goldsmith – daughter of former MP Lord (Zac) Goldsmith and his first wife, Sheherazade – is now setting her sights on the fashion world.
I hear the 24-year-old has secured a highly coveted PR internship at Christian Dior Couture in London, but her friends aren’t so thrilled.
‘I delighted in telling people I was going to work in fashion PR at Christian Dior Couture,’ Thyra says. ‘However, this was more often than not met with a ‘Oh really? My friend/sibling/ex/whatever, did fashion PR and hated it’.’
Mary Berry’s close call
The Duchess of Sussex is obsessed with the ‘flower sprinkles’ she sells, but Dame Mary Berry admits she almost poisoned viewers with her own floral recipe.
She says: ‘I was doing a television programme and I thought, ‘I know, I’ll put miniature daffodils on this’. But someone on set looked it up and stopped me in my tracks – they’re poisonous. So check they’re not going to kill everybody.’
King Charles is obliged to take the diplomatic rough with the smooth, but Rear Admiral Chris Parry believes he took it a step too far last week by meeting Ahmed al-Sharaa, president of Syria, a former fighter linked to Al Qaeda.
‘A suitable period of reflection and remorse should precede the honour of being welcomed to Britain and having an audience with His Majesty,’ the former Falklands conflict commander tells me.
