Outrage over Royston Blythe's plans to build house next to Wightwick Manor
A celebrity hairdresser has unveiled plans to build a four-bedroom house in his garden next to a stately home – sparking anger from residents and visitors to the site.
Royston Blythe has drawn up plans to build a home in the gardens of Wightwick House, next to Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton.
But the development has provoked a stream of objections and has been labelled 'selfish and arrogant'.
However Mr Blythe – who runs a salon in Bridgnorth Road, Compton, and at the Dorchester Hotel in London with his partner Nick Malenko – today defended the proposals and said they would have no impact on the manor.
Mr Blythe, who owns the early 19th century Wightwick House, wants to build the new home where a swimming pool currently stands. Some 25 comments have been posted on the Wolverhampton City Council website complaining about the plans.
One says: "The National Trust have preserved a beautiful house in Wightwick Manor for prosperity and it is not right to take away views by building an unwanted house so near to an historic sight."
Another says: "Wightwick Manor is an important, beautiful property owned by the National Trust, this building would impinge on the manor to its detriment, the proposal is unacceptable."
Mr Blythe, whose clients include Katie Price and singer Katy Perry, said he suspected that many of the people who were objecting had not seen the planning documents and did not know the details. He added: "I think that people forget that most of the houses around the area came after my property. There is going to be no effect on Wightwick Manor."
He said he had 'no immediate plans' for the house once it is built and added: "I have got part of the land that is going to rack and ruin and I wanted to do something with it."
Architect Trevor Williams, who has drawn up the plans, says the new house would not be visible from the manor. And he said fears that trees would be lost were 'unfounded'.
Another objector says the plans are 'unbelievably selfish and arrogant' and adds: "No significant local consultation has taken place."
The plans will be considered by the council's planning committee in the coming months.
