Ex-Premier League star in row with neighbours over ‘overbearing’ £1.2m home that’s been construction site for four years

10 months ago 76

AN EX-PREMIER League football star is in a row with neighbours over a new security wall.

Canadian footballer Junior Hoilett is building a new home in the small village of Englefield Green in Surrey.

Junior Hoilett playing for Reading in an FA Cup match against Manchester United in 2023[/caption]

Englefield Green is a picturesque Surrey village where the footballer has made his home[/caption]

Hoilett is in a planning dispute with neighbours over his new security wall at his home[/caption]

Hoilett is a left winger who made 61 caps for Reading as well as 173 for Cardiff City[/caption]

Hoilett, who last played for Vancouver Whitecaps, demolished the original £1.2million house and has been building a five-bedroom pad which boasts a gym, games room, playroom, and nursery.

As part of the new build, the ex-Blackburn, Reading and QPR winger wants a wall and security gate to boost security at his home.

But in a letter of objection, one neighbour wrote: “It hardly falls into the requirements of the village plan for soft, i.e, green frontages to property within the village.”

“I would hope that some guidance could be given to the applicants in this respect an I object to the current proposal.”

The dispute follows the burglaries of the homes of high-profile football stars, including Jack Grealish, Kurt Zouma, and Raheem Sterling.

There has also been a recent string of burglaries in the Englefield Green area, neighbours say.

Amanda Willis, the chair of the Englefield Green Village Residents Association, said the group wanted to see more greenery in the village in general.

Willis said the group didn’t particularly like the wall and would have preferred something more “open” which would show the house off.

But, the group had seen the plans and said the wall didn’t breach the neighbour plan and there was nothing they could do about it.

One neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, said there had been a wall there beforehand.

“You don’t have to have greenery, you could have a picket fence, it just has to be within those parameters [of the village plan].”

But, she said Hoilett’s new home was “out of keeping” with the area, in which most homes had a similar style.

“It is what it is”.

Another neighbour who didn’t want to be named said she didn’t like the new home either.

“I would prefer to see what was there before. A nice detached house.

“I have nothing against modern design, but something that is appropriate for the plot.”

The new home features a basement with neighbours saying they could hear the piles being driven into the ground.

The area is full of high hedges and walls which neighbours said muffled a lot of the construction noise over the past few years.

Hoilett was granted permission to demolish and build the new home in 2019 and received further building permissions in 2020.

In planning consultations, neighbours were worried that the three-story home would become “overbearing” to their homes.

But, close neighbours said Hoilett had communicated well with them and informed them over his plans.

They said the construction had been delayed because of Covid and Hoilett having to find a new contractor.

Hoilett joined Blackburn in 2003 and came through their academy with former Man Utd star Phil Jones.

He also played for QPR, Cardiff and Reading but quit The Royals last summer to join MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps in his homeland.

Land Registry records show that he bought his Surrey pad for £1.2million in May, 2019.

But it is now believed to be worth at least £3million after he knocked it down to make way for a two-storey new build, flanked by two single-storey wings.

Officials at Runnymede Council are expected to make a decision on the plans next month.

Hoilett made 81 appearances for the Blackburn Rovers, 112 for QPR, and 173 for Cardiff.

Junior Hoilett did not want to comment.