Martin Clunes' lavish extension at £5m farmhouse he's forced to defend
Martin Clunes has been a favoured TV actor on our screens for many years.
The 63-year-old, who rose to fame in the comedy Men Behaving Badly, has enjoyed a fruitful career, most notably for his long-running role in Doc Martin. Now, he's fronting a brand new ITV drama called Out There.
Thanks to his success, he and his wife, Phillippa – a writer and producer also in the TV industry – were able to purchase their sprawling property, Meerhay Farm, in Beaminster Dorset in 2007 which set them back £5 million.
The couple, who wed in the late 1990s and welcomed a daughter, Emily, in 2001, are fortunate to have space and land in abundance on their countryside estate.
It sits on 130 acres of rolling hills and is big enough to accommodate their many animals, including Shetland ponies, dogs, cattle and hens.
Like many homeowners, Martin and Phillippa were keen to extend their property to make it their own. But neighbours were reportedly unhappy when they installed a swimming pool on the grounds of their home.
According to MailOnline, locals in the area had accused the television actor of building the lavish pool without proper planning permission.
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However, the report also states that others were quick to defend Martin and his family, expressing that builders were given the green light under 'permitted development legislation', meaning they did not need specific planning permission.
Luckily for Martin, it seems that he was in the right. According to Urbanist Architecture UK, most homeowners in the UK don't need planning permission to build a pool if their garden is big enough and can go ahead under their permitted development rights.
However, it also states that it's crucial to check with local authorities and ensure you stay within regulations regarding measurements, location and the '50 % rule', which refers to how much space is taken up on your land – not including the house itself – by extras including pools, sheds, a pool house, hot tub, etc.
The back-and-forth regarding the pool was one dispute Martin had with his neighbours but it didn't end there. There was contention after plans to build an official travellers' site nearby to the farmhouse emerged.
The neighbours behind the plans had sought permanent status from the Dorset Council, but Martin had suggested that their settlement was "causing harm to the protected landscape that is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty."
The actor also suggested that they were being dishonest about their intentions on what to do with their plot of land which is 300 yards from Meerhay Farm.
Despite Martin and Philippa's upset, reports state that Beaminster Town Council told Dorset Council that the neighbours in question, Theo Langton and Ruth McGill, should have their application for a permanent travellers' site approved.
