Anton Du Beke wins planning battle to extend £1.8million home

EXCLUSIVE: Strictly judge Anton Du Beke now has plenty of room to dance after winning planning battle to extend his £1.8million Buckinghamshire home

• Du Beke has been given the all-clear to proceed with a major revamp to his home
• The Strictly judge bought the Buckinghamshire home five-years ago 
• The extension includes a loft conversion with a new gym and games room 
• The 56-year-old has had his application approved as long as no bats are disturbed 

Anton Du Beke is to get more floorspace to practice his famous dance moves after finally winning a planning battle to extend his £1.8million home.

The Strictly Come Dancing judge has been given consent for a major revamp to his Arts and Crafts-style house as long as the work does not disturb any bats.

The plans involve building a single storey extension, creating an open plan kitchen and living area flooded with light from lantern windows in a flat roof.

The extension will allow his existing kitchen and dining room to be converted into a ‘rumpus’ area and play room with an additional family room at his 1930s home in a Buckinghamshire village.

A permitted loft conversion will also help him keep in shape with a new gym and games room, and to relax in an entertainment suite with a home cinema.

Du Beke, 56, had originally applied in February to build a part single and part two-storey extension to his five-bedroom home.

 The planning application which did not attract any objections from neighbours was the first to be submitted by Du Beke since he bought his home five-years-ago

A loft conversion (pictured) will enable Du Beke to keep in shape with a new gym and games room, and to relax in an entertainment suite with a home cinema

Du Beke’s approved plans will feature an open plan kitchen and living area flooded with light. Pictured: The ground floor plans for his Buckinghamshire home 

The dancer initially applied to build a part single and part two-storey extension in February but withdrew his application after being warned it would likely be refused

But he withdrew his application after a planning officer said the house had undergone ‘significant’ previous additions and warned that the proposed scheme would be refused.

Du Beke then submitted revised plans for only a single storey kitchen extension with changes to doors and windows, taking out a proposed dressing room extension above.

Buckinghamshire Council approved the amended plans to extend the living space which he shares with wife Hannah, and their five-year-old twins and two pet Dachshunds.

Du Beke filmed himself repeatedly dancing around his home, sometimes in top hat and tails for social media posts to keep up the spirit of his fans during Covid lockdowns.

Now the new extension of the house will give him even more space to dance around.

His planning agent made out the case for the extension in accompanying paperwork submitted to the council, saying that it should be allowed under Green Belt policies.

The agent said: ‘This Arts & Crafts style detached character house is worthy of consent to modernise.

‘In the past 60 years it has not kept pace with essential vital modern facilities. It needs insulation, heating, double glazing, a utility room to house modern family facilities, kitchen and dining area that provide more efficient facilities necessary to serve a large family.

‘In this case the proposed extensions are a measured small scale response to a pressing need to bring a quality residence into the 21st century.

‘It is vital that the historic architectural style is maintained and no changes are planned to the front and north elevations. The west and south are screened or face onto the rear open space.’

The agent warned against what he described as the use of ’60-year-old arithmetical calculations’ to turn down the extension on the basis that it represented an over-development of the house.

Du Beke’s Buckinghamshire home which he bought in 2017 is worth £1.8million

The family have plans to have more floorspace by creating an open plan kitchen to make room for dancing

The five-bedroom house will finally be extended with his planning agent claiming it is ‘worthy of consent to modernise’

In an apparent rebuke to planners, he wrote: ‘It cannot be sound planning policy to use 60 year old arithmetic to halt the modernisation of a house of architectural merit standing in large grounds. This is a special case that warrants the council’s full support.’

The agent insisted that the plans ‘would not adversely affect the character or amenities of the landscape, nearby properties or the locality in general.’

He described the extension as ‘vital to enable accommodation to provide for modern essential living’, saying the owners should ‘be congratulated in seeking to modernise as against replacing this quality home’.

The paperwork added: ‘We cannot comprehend that council planners would use 60-year-old arithmetical calculations to stop the limited and measured vital extensions which would add to the stock of important character homes in its large curtilage of open space.’

The planning application which did not attract any objections from neighbours was the first to be submitted by Du Beke since he bought his home five-years-ago.

The Strictly judge, who is married to Hannah Summers, pictured reading to his two five-year-old twins Henrietta and George in their £1.8million Buckinghamshire home

Du Beke kept up with his fitness regime during lockdown, with the help of his daughter (pictured), and will now have more space to do the same and dance after winning his planning battle 

Planning officer Kaya Allnut decided the revised plans which dropped the dressing room were acceptable.

She wrote in her report: ‘The proposed floorspace increase would fall within the recommended guideline limit which states that an increase of no more than 50% in floorspace for extensions to dwellings situated within the metropolitan green belt, would be considered as small scale.

‘It is considered that as a result, the proposed extension would not represent a disproportionate addition to the existing dwelling in isolation when taken cumulatively with historic extensions, and would not cause harm to the openness of the green belt in this instance.

But she added: ‘The applicant is advised that the local planning authority is unlikely to consider favourably any applications to extend this dwelling house further.’

Steve Bambrick, the council’s Service Director of Planning and Environment approved the plans but warned that the flat roof of the extension should ‘not be used as a balcony, roof garden, sitting out area or similar amenity area without the grant of further specific permission’.

Du Beke filmed himself repeatedly dancing around his home, sometimes in top hat and tails for social media posts to keep up the spirit of his fans during Covid lockdowns

He also warned that a licence would be required if any building work was likely to disturb any bats ‘or their resting places’ due to the creatures being protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Mr Bambrick added: ‘Particular care and vigilance should be taken when roof tiles or slates are removed (remove by hand and check underside for bats before stacking, particularly the ones over the gable ends and ridge tiles.)

‘Fascias, barge boards and external cladding may also provide roost opportunities for bats and should be disturbed with care.

‘As a further precaution, undertaking roof work during the months of March to May, or September to November will avoid the main hibernation and breeding seasons when bats are most sensitive to disturbance.’

Other famous residents who live in the area include Strictly presenter Tess Daly, comedian Brian Conley and actor Robert Lindsey.

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