BBC's Badawi is allowed to raise the roof

BBC newsreader Zeinab Badawi has been told she can keep a roof conversion at her £1.85 million Belsize Park home that she put up without planning permission.

Councillors went against the recommendation of their own officers after hearing how neighbours were backing the journalist. However, the extension has divided local opinion with the Belsize Conservation Area Advisory Committee objecting to its "size and bulk".

Badawi, 52, who attended the meeting, claimed she went ahead with the £50,000 work on the six-bedroom Edwardian house after being told she would not need to apply for permission.