Another day, and another spat has erupted between Robbie Williams and his well-heeled Holland Park neighbours.
Ever since the former Take That star and his wife Ayda Field moved to their Grade II listed mansion in 2013 their extravagant home improvement plans have been alienating close neighbours, led by veteran Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.
Round one began after Williams requested planning permission to excavate a basement swimming pool beneath his home in 2014. Page responded angrily, claiming vibrations from the work would damage his Grade I listed home.
Williams eventually won his permission, but subsequently had to apologise to Page for claiming he was stalking the builders, sitting in his car and recording them at work (presumably to check they weren’t breaching legal noise limits).
In the intervening years Williams’ plans to prune a series of trees and build a children’s playhouse have only heightened tensions in W11. It is not clear how much the musicians have spent on lawyers and consultants over the past decade, but it is safe to assume it is considerably more than a nurse could have earned in the same period.
The latest argument is over a “fungus infested” Norway maple tree which Williams wants to chop down. An anonymous neighbour has objected, claiming Williams has not provided clear proof that the tree is not salvageable. Kensington and Chelsea Council will rule on the matter next month.
Of course neighbourly disputes are not confined to the rich and famous.
A survey by Good Move found that 64 per cent of us have fallen out with a neighbour at least once in our lives. And 6.6 million people have been involved in a boundary dispute in the past year, according to Churchill Home Insurance.
But star wars tend to be more acrimonious, or at least are more publicised.
Ed Sheeran is a perfect classic example of a man determined to create his own special world.
The singer’s main home is a 16-acre estate near Framlingham, Suffolk, worth a reported £3.7m. “Sheeran-ville”, as the property has been nicknamed, includes a main house plus three adjacent houses. Sheeran has spent a fortune on creating his family compound - it has its own pub, chapel, and an indoor pool and fitness complex. Outside there is a fruit orchard, a newly-dug pond, and a luxury treehouse.
The neighbours who have had a front row seat for the genesis of Sheeran-ville are unimpressed by all this. Sheeran has, they claim, ruined the bucolic views of open fields they used to enjoy which are now blocked by high hedges and security fences.
Matters took a turn for the worse over the summer when Sheeran posted a video of him leaping into the pond for a refreshing swim this summer.
Locals quickly accused him of “taking the mick” because he had been given permission to dig the pond on the strict condition that it be used as a wildlife space and not for “recreational leisure activity, such as swimming.” However, the local council subsequently agreed to remove the restriction.
Back in London, tightly packed homes mean that the prospect of long running building works often cause friction between neighbours, no matter how well known they are.
David and Victoria Beckham fell out with their Holland Park neighbours in 2015 when they applied for planning permission to renovate and upgrade their white stucco Italianate mansion with a new gym and wine cellar.
Their next door neighbour argued that the project would harm the “historic character” of the street, and would mean months of “noise, vibration, dirt, pollution, and dust”.
Despite this heartfelt plea the work was given the green light.
Even Holly Willoughby fell out with neighbours in 2021, over plans to extend the home she shares with her husband Dan Baldwin and their three children.
Although planning permission was granted the project caused plenty of bad feelings. One neighbour, Liliana Velez, told journalists that she was outraged. "Having the noise all week all day for so many months is not the standard of living in such an expensive area to live,” she said."I do not pay taxes to get this level of disruption, it is not quality of life."
Other disputes centre on celebrities' desire for privacy.
Pippa Middleton and her husband James Matthews are right in the midst of a “get off my land” ruckus over a footpath on their 145-acre, £15m Berkshire estate.
Its previous owner, designer and restaurateur Sir Terence Conran, had allowed locals to use the path but the Matthews have had it blocked off, a move locals describe as “outrageous”. The local council will decide whether or not to approve the closure next year.
Williams’ former bandmate Gary Barlow found himself in a similar predicament after moving to Delamere Manor, in Cuddington, Cheshire, in 1995.
For decades the Delamere Manor Fly Fishers’ Club had special permission to use the seven acre fishing lake within its grounds. The 30 mainly elderly members had even stocked the lake with 3,000 fish and repaid Barlow’s predecessor with occasional trout left on the doorstep.
But Barlow wasn’t swayed by the idea of a free trout supper and banned the club, explaining he was a ‘very private person’. The club was outraged, but powerless.
It is noticeable that many of the angriest neighbour disputes involve men, particularly those of a certain age.
There is Page, of course.
And Queen lead guitarist Brian May sued developer Wavell Group Ltd in an expensive protest over the noise and nuisance caused by a basement excavation it carried out next door to the Kensington house he shares with actress wife Anita Dobson.
Eventually May accepted £25,000 damages, but the case will surely have left him out of pocket. In 2018 May was awarded costs of £35,000 – he had asked for more than £200,000.
Then of course there is the ultimate opinionated old man, Jeremy Clarkson.
The petrol head turned farmer has been battling with West Oxfordshire District Council over his plans to turn his Cotswolds estate, Diddly Squat Farm, into a thriving tourist attraction – fighting to win a series of planning applications and ignoring multiple complaints from locals of traffic jams and parked cars being pranged by his visitors.
But while some celebrities may be spoiled and determined to get their own way. Mike Talbot, a psychotherapist and founder of UK Mediation, who has long experience of persuading warring neighbours to make peace, says while there is the possibility of stars’ status playing a part, Talbot believes that the neighbours they butt heads with are not perfect either. “There might be a bit of jealousy involved,” said Talbot. “The neighbours find out what they are doing and think: “You can’t get away with this just because you are famous.”
