Richard Caring, the billionaire owner of the famous restaurant The Ivy and private members’ club Annabel’s, has been granted permission to close a main road in South Kensington, central London, in order to plant dozens of trees in the grounds of his £40 million of pounds sterling. mansion
Caring, who has amassed a personal fortune estimated at more than £1bn from his club and restaurant empire, which also includes the Sexy Fish in Mayfair, was given permission by the council to close part of Onslow Square for two weeks to install a crane to carry the mature trees over a row of neighboring townhouses.
David Erb, who lives in Onslow Square in a property overlooking Caring’s mansion, said it was outrageous that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea was “taking the whims of a billionaire who wants a nice garden”.
“It is absolutely wrong that one man, with a large fortune, is able to disrupt the lives of thousands of people,” Erb, a software developer, told the Guardian as one of the trees, estimated to weigh more than five tons, was raised over his house. “Often they close the sidewalk as well and it starts to look a bit like we’re living behind a barricade.”
A large crane lifts trees above the houses of Onslow Square. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer
The road closure is the latest chapter in a five-year battle between Caring and some of the roughly 500 people who live on properties adjacent to his Park House mansion.
Designs for the house, which replaces a 19th-century country house previously owned by German industrial heir Gert-Rudolf Flick, include a large two-story basement.
In the basement alone there is a swimming pool (which can be converted into a ballroom), a beauty treatment room, a steam room and storage for summer clothes, according to plans submitted to the city council.
The council has already issued an enforcement notice on Caring ordering it to remove three “incongruous and dominant” windows, which it said would “fail to preserve the character and appearance” of the conservation area.
It said it took breaches of planning rules “very seriously” and had given Caring six months to comply. A spokesman said the council should “take heart[s] neighbors to report any concerns they may have so we can work with property owners to investigate and resolve issues quickly.”
Onslow Square, which links South Kensington tube station to Fulham Road, is used by bus routes 14, 49, 345 and 414, which have all been diverted. The road is also a major thoroughfare for ambulances taking patients to the Royal Marsden and Chelsea and Westminster hospitals. Emergency services had to be informed of the closure.
A council spokesman said it “cannot unreasonably refuse” road closure requests, but added it appreciated the inconvenience caused.
The council said it asked Caring to delay the road closure until August in order to minimize disruption to residents and emergency services.
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“Anyone can request a road closure from us, from residents who want to lift heavy items to their homes to utility companies carrying out repairs and improvements,” the spokesman said. “While we cannot unreasonably refuse such requests, we appreciate that closures may be inconvenient and do our best to minimize any disruption.
“In this case, we publicized the closure in the local media and on our website several weeks in advance and the applicant hand-delivered a letter to over 600 homes in the area. We also encouraged the applicant to carry out the work during the school holidays to avoid disrupting school traffic and informed Transport for London and the emergency services of the planned closure.”
Regarding the breach of planning rules, which the residents identified in May, the council said: “There are planning rules to protect the neighbourhoods. We take violations very seriously and work with owners to investigate and fix issues quickly.
“We have issued an enforcement notice in this case and this allows six months from the date of issue for the developer to amend their property to comply with planning consent.”
Flick has described the house as “almost a country house in the middle of London”.
Multiple spokespeople for Caring and its company Caprice Holdings did not respond to requests for comment.