New owners of Cilla Black's mansion resubmit plans to develop pool
New owners of Cilla Black’s £3.8m country mansion risk war with neighbours as they resubmit plans to develop swimming pool a year after council blocked bid due impact on green belt
- New owners of Cilla Black’s former mansion resubmit plans to develop pool
- First application branded ‘inappropriate’ by Buckingham Council and blocked
- Scaled-down plans address some of the issues raised in the original proposals
- However, they seek to add a new plant room, sauna and changing rooms
A couple who bought Cilla Black’s £3.8m country mansion are risking war with neighbours after resubmitting plans to develop the swimming pool.
Cecilia Elrin and Damian Gully want to replace the old pool house and kit it out with a new sauna, plant room, changing rooms and kitchen.
The first application was denied in January last year by Buckinghamshire Council for being an ‘inappropriate development in the Green Belt.’
But the latest plans, submitted on Monday, 8 August, attempt to address some of the issues by scaling down on the floorspace and height of the pool house.
The swimming pool, originally built in 1996, will remain unaltered, according to the executive summary by forestry expert Glen Harding
The pool building will be extended and built with red brick to remain in style with the main house, according to fresh plans submitted on 8 August
Ms Elrin and Mr Gully bought the late Blind Date star’s sprawling 17-acre estate in Denham, Buckinghamshire in 2016.
Cilla bought the property with her husband Bobby Willis in 1970, and live there until her death aged 72 in 2015.
The new owners claim the current pool house, which was built with a brick structure around a structural plywood portal frame in 1996, was only meant to last 25 years and is due to be replaced.
The resubmitted proposals seek less floorspace than original plans but will add new plant room, sauna, changing rooms and landscaping around the pool house
They applied to demolish the existing pool building in 2020, but this was refused in January last year.
The design statement, by Jane Duncan Architects and Interiors, said: ‘The proposals seek to update a building which in its current form is not workable.
‘We are seeking to increase the size of the plant room to incorporate filtration and air handling equipment, changing facilities as well as improve the insulation and sustainable method of heating to bring it up to current day standards.
‘The proposal is to extend the internal and refurbish the pool itself and replace the building around it.
‘The proposed building is therefore in the same location as the existing.’
The original plans increased the size of the building by a third.
Late star Cilla Black and her husband Bobby Willis (pictured) bought the sprawling 17-acre estate in Buckinghamshire together in 1970. Cilla owned it until her death in 2015
The new application looks for 31-square-metres less in floorspace and will decrease the height of the building by half a metre.
The pool will stay the same size but new landscaping will be installed near to the new building.
They also want to expand the changing room to make two larger ones, each with a toilet and basin.
The current sauna, toilet and shower room, will become a large plant room and the extra space will allow for a larger sauna and store room to be added.
There are also plans for a new kitchen and extended patio in the new building.
Keeping in style with the main house, it will be made of red brick and will have powder coated aluminium glazed windows and timber doors.
Three huge roof lanterns will also be installed to replace the roof lights, alongside a mass of glass doors opening outwards into the garden.
The roof material will be switched from felt to rubber.
Service Director of Planning and Environment for Buckinghamshire Council said of the original plans: ‘The proposed replacement outbuilding would be materially larger than the existing outbuilding on the site and therefore would be considered as inappropriate development, which by definition is harmful to the Green Belt.
‘By virtue of the design, form, size and scale, especially in considering the increased bulk present as a result of the raised eaves and the increase in floor space, the proposed replacement outbuilding would have a greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt than the existing outbuilding in situ.
‘The proposed replacement outbuilding would contribute to the erosion of the Green Belt which would detrimentally affect the aims and objectives of the Green Belt.’
The new pool house will be built in red brick and will have powder coated aluminium glazed windows and timber doors to match the style of the main house, according to the latest plans
The executive summary by forestry expert Glen Harding said: ‘The proposal for the site is to extend the existing pool building.
‘The outline of the existing swimming pool will remain unaltered.
‘New landscaping will be installed near to the new building.
‘The proposed scheme requires the removal of a small number of relatively insignificant trees and shrubs which will not significantly impact the local or wider landscape.’
The property is set on 17-acres of land in Denham in the Buckinghamshire countryside and was the former home of Cilla Black
Cilla’s swimming pool, which was built in 1996, has brought additional scrutiny due to four species of bats using the property.
But experts decided that it was ‘unlikely to support a roost of high significance’, despite droppings being found on the walls.
They decided that the building work could go ahead without harming the ecosystem, although it could not be done during the cold winter months when few insects are around and any bats captured would have to be relocated to a bat box.
Mature trees in the area would also have to be kept in place to ensure the mammals’ flight corridors.
Jones & Sons Environmental Sciences said: ‘It is concluded that the Pool Building is an autumn transitional roosting site for small numbers of the more common species of bat and does not support a maternity site.
Plans (pictured) show the pool building from the exterior. The proposal is to extend the internal and refurbish the pool itself and replace the building around it
The ground floor plan of the pool house (above) will be altered to add a new plant room, sauna, changing rooms and kitchen but the swimming pool will remain the same
‘Demolition of the Pool Building will have a minor negative impact at a site level but a negligible impact on the wider context.’
The plans to develop the swimming pool are part of a number of redevelopment projects being carried out on the mansion.
In 2019 the pair got conditional permission to demolish Cilla’s kids’ playroom, alongside the conservatory and two chimneys.
They erected a two storey rear extension with roof lanterns, a single storey side extension with a roof lantern, a rear dormer window at the first floor and amendments to the proposed garden room alongside removing the external plant room.
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