Boris Johnson buys £3.8m nine-bed Georgian manor house (with moat) - Update: Swimming pool plans threatened by newts

Hi

I hope he is very happy there, so happy that when he moves in he shuts the front door behind him and never ventures out again.

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You are a better person than me, Swimmy

I hope he lives a life of total misery and despair there

And while we agree on the desirability of him never coming out, I hope it’s because he accidentally locks himself in the cellar and no one notices he’s gone :smiling_imp:

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I have no time for politicians but, I don’t hate them either.

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Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie Johnson, have moved into their new family home in Oxfordshire.

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Hi

So what?

I do not do jealousy and I am just grateful that he is no longer our PM.

Simple thing to upset him, just ignore him, he loves the Publicity, good or bad.

Say nothing about him and he will be distraught.

Did I say I was jealous … :017:

I doubt that and I doubt if either of them are overly bothered what anyone else thinks about them.
Good luck to them I say and long may they enjoy their new home.

what a beautiful place , grand enough for an ex PM,not to over the top,and great for the children to grow up surrounded by countryside and near to Oxford Univercity.I give it 10 out of 10…

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It is a lovely house.
It looks a great place to raise a family - looking at all the different additions to the property, I bet it’s full of nooks and crannies - you could have great games of hide n seek there - and the grounds look lovely too, with a large pond and a tennis court. How lucky those children are to be growing up there. I would have loved it.

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You don’t need to :023:

It is indeed a lovely house, which scum like him doesn’t deserve to own and wouldn’t if there was any justice in the world

As there isn’t any, ( justice, I mean) I can only hope the rest of his life there is short and miserable and beset by woes, misfortunes, plagues, pestilence and tragedy and that when Carrie divorces him, she takes him for both the house and his shirt :smiling_imp:

Lucky in the house, not in the father who will be living there with them

It’s a terrible thing for a child to grow up with a father who is a man with no integrity or morals and luxurious accommodation can’t make up for it

Maybe she should tuck it in first…his shirt I mean.

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Boris Johnson is trying to build an outdoor swimming pool at his new mansion after resigning in disgrace as an MP.

The ex-PM has applied for planning permission for the lavish works in the grounds of his Cotswolds grand manor house as Brits struggle to pay their bills amid rising costs and interest rate hikes.

Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie paid £3.8million in cash for the nine-bedroom country pile in May this year. The 400-year-old property in Oxfordshire is set in nearly five acres, which already include its own walled garden, moat and a tennis court.

An application was made to the local council last month for the development of a 11m x 4m swimming pool, surrounded by a tiled area. It is currently in the consultation stage with a target decision date set for next month.

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However, Mr Johnson is already facing a hurdle in the form of a warning from the local County Archaeological Services.

Due to the property’s location in a site of “considerable archaeological interest” it has recommended that Mr Johnson should be required to monitor for important archaeological finds if planning permission is granted.

The grounds are believed to have been the location of a 12th century siege castle.

Several responses also appear to have been filed by his neighbours.

If I’m reading the plan correctly, he wants to install the pool behind the cottage at the rear.

Objecting to the pool, one council officer warned nearby newts could be impacted by the development. He advised planning permission should not be granted, without an assessment.

Great crested newts are a European protected species and it is an offence to deliberately kill, injure or capture them, or damage their breeding sites and resting places. According to government agency Natural England, the population of great crested newts has dramatically declined over the last 60 years. In order to protect the species, local councils have to check developers have taken appropriate measures to mitigate negative effects on the orange-bellied amphibians.

Mr Johnson’s application to build an 11 by 4m outdoor swimming pool, also attracted comments from the council’s County Archaeological Services who noted that the site was an area of “considerable archaeological interest” as it was believe to be the location of a moat of a 12th century siege castle. The body said the development “despite its relatively limited nature, could encounter archaeological deposits related to the medieval development”. It advised that if permission was granted, some form of archaeological monitoring should take place during construction.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England Oxfordshire noted that the application did not include an external lighting scheme.

The organisation said it was working to reduce light pollution and any new plans for pool lighting should be subject to prior approval.

Bad news for BJ but he will, no doubt, bluster his way through the objections … :roll_eyes:

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I have just read that news too - I bet BJ is pee’d off about that!

A friend of mine was converting an old derelict dairy building attached to their farmhouse into a small house for their elderly Mum to live in - they knew they could only build within the original footprint of the building but, even then, they had to run the gamut of all the wildlife conservation rules before they got planning permission - they started off with Bats, there was no evidence of Bats in the old dairy but they had to have a Bat survey, then put in bat boxes, just in case - it cost thousands. They’ve never seen any evidence of any bats roosting in the old dairy and the bat boxes have remained empty since they were installed 2 years ago - but there’s quite a few bats roosting in some of the farm’s outbuildings.

Then they had to pay for a survey to check for Great Crested Newts too, because they are in a red zone - although how the re-building of the old dairy right next to the house would have impacted any newts around the farmland was a mystery - and the survey decided there was no problem with their plans.

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Ex-PM Boris Johnson has been given permission to build a swimming pool in his Oxfordshire home, despite initial concerns it could impact nearby newts. South Oxfordshire District Council has now said building work can go ahead, providing steps are taken to mitigate risks. This includes contributing to a scheme to protect newts.

In its report, the council says the applicant had opted to use the council’s District Level Licence to provide compensation for any potential damage to the local amphibians. The report also says there are plans to enhance an orchard already present in order to make up for any loss of biodiversity caused by the development.

The proposed 11m by 4m swimming pool would sit 35m from the moat and 80m from a pond, which a local conservation officer warned were suitable breeding grounds and habitats for great crested newts.

As prime minister, Mr Johnson had railed against the protections arguing that “newt counting” was holding back housebuilding.

South Oxfordshire District Council said it was granting planning permission for the development “strictly in accordance with the description, plans and specifications contained in the application… subject to the following conditions”.

Conditions require the developers to protect nearby trees, abide by the great crested newt mitigation principles and arrange an “archaeological watching brief”.

The council concluded that “the scale and design of the proposed development would be in keeping with the character of the building and the surrounding area and would not materially harm the amenity of neighbouring properties or highway safety.”

IF BJ sticks to the rules then that solution is obviously the best … but BJ usually thinks rules are for others and goes his own way … so the “archaeological watching brief” better keep a close eye on the rejected PM … :eye:

3 cheers for the newts Hip hip, hooray hip hip hooray hip hip hooray

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