Celebrity interior designer Celia Sawyer has won her fight to keep a luxury sunroom in the garden of her Sandbanks home.
The star of Channel 4‘s Four Rooms had the glass building with retractable roof built in 2020.
The sunroom backs on to Poole Harbour and she even had a small sandy ‘beach’ built in in front of it with sunloungers.
Since then she has regularly posted pictures of herself lounging in the 21ft by 15ft sunroom in her bikini on Instagram.
Last year the 58-year-old became embroiled in a planning row with nextdoor neighbour Neil Kennedy over a first-floor balcony he had built without planning permission.
Celebrity interior designer Celia Sawyer (pictured) has won her battle to keep a sunroom she built in the garden of a her Sandbanks home
Celia Sawyer’s house (to the left), with the sunroom at the foot of her garden
Sawyer (pictured) was granted the retrospective planning application with conditions that the sunroom must not be used for habitable accommodation
She claimed that he would be able to look down to the bottom of her garden where she sunbathes.
Mrs Sawyer and her husband Nick lost out in the dispute when the local council granted Mr Kennedy retrospective planning permission to keep his balcony.
Afterwards BCP Council received an anonymous tip-off informing them that Mrs Sawyer’s sunroom had been built without permission.
Officials contacted her and told her to submit a retrospective planning application to see if she would be allowed to keep it.
A council case officer has today granted her approval saying they were satisfied the building did not cause any harm to the area.
Planning officer Emma Woods said the sunroom was not visible from the street and can only be seen from the water and neighbouring properties.
She said the sunroom is ‘open in nature’ and ‘does not appear at odds with its surroundings and sits well with the eclectic mix of styles along the shoreline’.
Mrs Sawyer, 58, (pictured at her home in 2014) and her husband Nick lost out in the dispute when the local council granted Mr Kennedy retrospective planning permission to keep his balcony
The property is situated in a quiet cul-de-sac on Sandbanks
Mrs Sawyer became embroiled in a planning row with her next door neighbour Neil Kennedy (pictured) over a first floor balcony he had built without planning permission
Celia and her husband, Nick, own the property on the left of this picture overlooking Poole Harbour worth £4million. They did not object to their neighbour Neil Kennedy demolishing a bungalow next door and replacing it with a modern three-storey house (right). The balcony in question is on the third tier of the house and is outlined in yellow
A picture of Mr Kennedy’s house shows the balcony (outlined in red) and the new heat pump on top of his roof
A council case officer granted Mrs Sawyer (pictured) retrospective planning approval for the sunroom saying they were satisfied the building did not cause any harm to the area
She noted it is about 3ft from Mr Kennedy’s property but would not be overbearing due to its modest height and open nature.
She said: ‘Overall it is considered that the development respects the amenities and privacy of the occupants of the neighbouring properties.’
The council only received one representation from a neighbour at number 10, who said the sunroom was well designed and made a positive contribution to this part of the harbour.
She granted the retrospective planning application with conditions that the sunroom must not be used for habitable accommodation and finished in the agreed materials and to the approved plans.