A shocking twist in an American billionaire’s plans for a Cotswolds country house has seen the application supported.
Ronald Burkle, a businessman who co-founded the private investment firm Yucaipa Companies, LLC, is no stranger to the area, owning celebrity hotspot Soho House.
He applied to West Oxfordshire District Council to introduce the development of 4.37 hectares of farmland in Little Tew between Banbury and Chipping Norton.
The council had previously rejected a previous design in 2022 and the new plans are now in the consultation stage.
READ MORE: American billionaire’s Cotswolds mansion plan is ‘grotesque’
Residents have been taking issue with the proposal as around 30 letters of objection have been filed throughout September and early October already.
Yet now the project has been shown some support by other residents who have commended the mansion’s design.
Charles Holland said: “Having studied the design report, examined the drawings and read the objections on the planning portal I am writing to express my support in principle for the proposals.
“The idea that a building drawing on the baroque and artisan mannerist traditions, as this one does, cannot be modern or innovative is entirely subjective and should not have a bearing on the decision.
“The design of the house and its landscape adds positively to its surroundings.”
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Jack Whiteford added: “Considering the local economy, Ron Burkle has contributed so much to the surrounding economy in Oxfordshire, it is fair that he is given a chance to make a home here too.
“The project will also provide many jobs to local people, during construction, but also in the long term.
“The English Country House is an important, historical tradition, this should be allowed to continue in a way which is sustainable for this current day and age.
“Para 84e of the NPPF allows permission for houses that are 'truly outstanding' and this application truly is, on every front.”
The mansion plans were previously described as grotesque by Margaret Norris, a local objector.
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“Rather than being a development of “truly outstanding quality”, I believe it to be a proposal of truly outstanding grotesquerie,” she said.
“The proposed landscaping, like the buildings, would be entirely out of character, unnatural and, given the area’s current habitat diversity would, in my view, constitute a Biodiversity Net Loss (BNL).
“It would be a travesty for light and sound pollution to be increased by such a massive intrusion on the outskirts of our village.
“Please reject what would clearly be an inappropriate, non-isolated, habitat-threatening, polluting, un-enhancing and insensitive ‘monstrous carbuncle’.”
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The site is located to the south of Banbury Road and is made up of eight fields of various sizes, six being in intensive arable cultivation, one being permanent pasture and the remaining field being reverted from arable to grassland.
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