City boss Stephen Fairholme in ‘Wild West’ mega-basement battle in Kensington

Headhunter ‘trampled over planning rules to make dig bigger’
'Unfortunate': Stephen Fairholme's neighbours complained after the dig under his Kensington home grew in size
Jeremy Selwyn / Evening Standard
Matt Watts25 January 2016

A wealthy City headhunter was today accused of treating Kensington like the Wild West by “trampling over” planning rules to build a mega-basement under his £5 million home.

Ex-trader Stephen Fairholme, 47, was given permission for a modest extension with a reception, bathroom, cinema room and shower directly beneath the four-storey house in March 2013.

But the following year he applied for a much larger dig — adding a playroom, utility room, gym, study and two bathrooms to the basement — which would have involved excavating more than 50 per cent of the back garden.

By then Kensington & Chelsea council had introduced controls on basement extensions, limiting them to less than half the size of the garden, and the application was rejected.

When work began, however, his neighbours became suspicious at the scale of the project. Their fears were confirmed when council planning officers visited the site in October.

Stephen Fairholme

The officers served an enforcement notice on Mr Fairholme — who once sued his bank employer for “only” paying him a £230,000 bonus — putting a stop to the works. But they also suggested he lodge a retrospective application for a bigger extension, slightly smaller than the banned scheme, to conform with the new guidelines.

Council officers have now recommended approval for the application.

In a written objection sent to the local authority, neighbour Donald Cameron, 70, said: “If this application is approved it will be a clear signal to developers that the Wild West is operating in Kensington planning. Anything goes.”

He told the Standard: “It is a dangerous precedent to set for the new basement policy and a suggestion that the whole apparatus is a sham.”

Kensington Society chairman Amanda Frame said: “It’s making a mockery of planning rules when someone can just trample over it with a retrospective application. If the council do not stand firm developers will just push the boundaries with unlawful development, knowing they will get away with it.”

Local Tory MP and councillor Victoria Borwick said in her written objection: “If it was not all right first time, then why is it all right ‘second time’?

‘It is a dangerous precedent for the new basement policy and suggests the whole apparatus  is a sham’ 

&#13; <p>Donald Cameron, neighbour</p>&#13;

“It will be extremely difficult to continue to enforce our new regulations if we give in to all of these, I fear it will set a precedent that will run a coach and horses through our emerging plans.”

Mr Fairholme, who worked for investment banks Barings and Merrill Lynch before setting up financial head-hunting firm Fairholme International, bought the property in 2011 as a home for his wife and two young children. He employed a basement contractor, which eventually downed tools because of a row.

Mr Fairholme said: “We didn’t know what was being built wasn’t permitted. We didn’t realise the mistake until it was too late, now we are doing what we must do to make it right. The dispute with my neighbours has been unfortunate but this retrospective application is for a basement which is reasonable for the area and within the planning guidelines and therefore has been rightly recommended for approval.”

In its report, the council said the latest application meets the new criteria. It will be decided at a planning committee meeting tomorrow.

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