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Harry Redknapp is locked in a fierce battle with wealthy residents and the council over his plans to build a plush new home.
The former Premier League manager, 78, wants to demolish his £1.5million house in Poole, Dorset, and replace it with an impressive five-bed mansion.
Redknapp has twice angered neighbours by applying to build two houses on the site to sell for a profit in 2023 and 2024, only for both applications to be rejected and his appeals dismissed.
Now the former I’m a Celebrity winner has gone back to the drawing board and – through his firm Pierfront Developments – is asking Bournemouth Council for permission to build just one five bedroom house with a detached garage and pool house.
Plans show all five bedrooms will be en-suite and the pool house will be equipped with a sauna, steam room, hot tub and even a bar area.
The application claims replacing the current 1970s white rendered house will make ‘a significant improvement to the character and appearance of the site’.
Authorities are expected to give their verdict on the latest proposal for the site early in the new year but he will first have to win over neighbours in the Branksome Park & Canford Cliffs Residents Association.
The group previously claimed the new houses would be ‘overbearing and dominant’ and accused the former Portsmouth, West Ham and Spurs manager of trying to ‘compromise the Conservation Area’s integrity’.
The former Premier League manager, 78, wants to demolish his £1.5million house in Poole, Dorset, pictured
Plans for new home: He intends to replace the home with an impressive five-bed mansion
Aerial view of the current house which Rednap plans to demolish to make way for his mansion
A spokesman for the group said of the previous application: ‘The design still aims to split the site, increasing the density of the plot, with a modern palette of materials – which are not in keeping with the surroundings nor compliant with the sustainable agenda set out in the Local Plan.’
The development is one of three investments which Harry and Sandra’s company are working on close to their own family home in Poole.
They have been given permission for a block of nine apartments and a development at another plot where a building is to be knocked down and replaced with 16 flats.
Harry won I’m a Celebrity in 2018 after he retired from a career playing and then managing at the top level in football, and is now focusing on his property business.
Last year, Harry breathed a sigh of relief after securing planning permission to build a luxury villa for himself and Sandra in place of a seaside home he had already demolished.
He paid almost £7million for a 60-year-old detached house on the exclusive Sandbanks peninsula in 2023.
They applied for planning consent to bulldoze the existing property and build a stunning Italianate villa with Palladian-style columns plus four separate balconies with wrought iron railings overlooking Poole Harbour.
But before local council officials could agree to their plans, the couple gave the go-ahead for builders to go in and flatten the old house.
Fortunately, the permission went through last year and the villa-style property, thought to cost around £12million with four separate balconies and wrought iron railings, is close to completion. However, the dream home caused a stir among locals.
The house is inside the Sandbanks conservation area and the Sandbanks Neighbourhood Forum had objected to the villa. The group claimed it would have a ‘detrimental effect’ on the area.
Next-door neighbour Alison Wheeler believed the new villa would be too ‘overpowering’ and ‘oppressive’. She also feared it would have a ‘major impact on our privacy’.
It comes just months after Redknapp’s £5million nearby waterside mansion was raided by a masked gang armed with hammers.
Harry and his wife Sandra, also 78, were both out when a gang struck in July but they escaped with jewellery and other luxury items.
A masked gang is said to have stormed into Harry Redknapp’s £5million Dorset mansion and raided it – taking off with his wife’s jewellery.
A source said: ‘It was clearly organised. The raiders must have known the house was empty.’
The ice cream man to the stars who has served 99p flakes to Harry Redknapp
Last year Harry breathed a sigh of relief after securing planning permission to build a luxury villa for himself and Sandra in place of a seaside home he had already demolished
Redknapp paid almost £7million for a 60-year-old detached house on the exclusive Sandbanks peninsula in 2023
He applied for planning consent to build a stunning Italianate villa with Palladian-style columns plus four separate balconies with wrought iron railings overlooking Poole Harbour
The property is currently on sale, while the couple’s new villa is completed and it is feared that the thugs may have checked out the layout of the house, which is understood to be for sale, on a property website ad.
The house is located near Dorset beach resort Sandbanks, where properties are among the most expensive in the world per square foot.
The thieves, who were brandishing lump hammers and a sledgehammer to break the front door open, were captured on CCTV scouring through the property.
‘They were caught on CCTV cameras breaking in and trying to ransack the property looking for valuables’, the source added.
‘It was clearly organised and they must have known the house was empty at the time.’
A spokesman for Harry said: ‘Harry doesn’t want to make a fuss.
‘There was no one in the house at the time and we don’t want to comment on what was taken. It’s a matter for the police.’