My neighbours want to build tacky suburban cottages next to my historic home – it’s going to ruin how they look

A MILLIONAIRE designer has said a neighbour's new home is “too suburban” to be built next to his £3million historic country pile. 

Glenn Kinnersley, 60, and wife Donna said neighbour Paul Dixon’s barn conversion will spoil the stately image of their property.

Photographer Paul and wife Angela want to build two new dwellings in Kent by converting and revamping outbuildings, which used to be within the grand house's estate.

It will include demolishing a garden wall which they say is crumbling, while rebuilding an alternative wall and restoring an old glasshouse.

But the Kinnersley's say the wall is historic and told Maidstone Borough Council of their "disappointment with the suburban design".

They are now challenging the council in the High Court after it granted planning permission for the build in January 2021.

The couple claim officials ignored the project's impact on the prized "heritage asset" of their ancient home.

They moaned that many "features" of the proposed build next door were "out of keeping with the prevailing character of the site and will detract from the agricultural character of the building and from the overall aesthetic of the estate".

And they were critical of plans for “dominating windows” which would be “highly visible from the listed walled garden" they own.

The features would “draw the eye and significantly alter the experience of the historical surroundings of Hollingbourne House”, they claimed.

Mr and Mrs Kinnsersley put forward an alternative scheme but the Dixons insisted they have done their all to design a project in keeping with the environment and historical profile of the house.

The council’s barrister Giles Atkinson rejected arguments that planning approval ignored the impact of the barn conversion on a “historically significant” location.

He said it was a “public benefit” pinpointed by conservation experts as “offering a significant gain for this historic asset”.

But Harriet Townsend - for the Kinnersleys - claimed Maidstone Borough Council “adopted a flawed approach to the assessment of heritage impact”.

Judge Karen Walden Smith reserved her ruling in the case.

Mr and Mrs Kinnersley bought Grade-II listed Hollingbourne House, which dominates a crest on the Kent north downs for £1.6million in 2005, before transforming it.

Mr Kinnersley is the founder of global corporate and interiors design brand, Kinnersley Kent, a flourishing business based in London and Dubai.

He and his wife's 18th century mansion, which came with eight acres of grounds and “vast cellars”, was originally the seat of a family of prominent Kent landowners - the Duppas - and was designed by the architect Charles Beazley as a “grand neo-classical residence”.

The Dixons live in Mulberry Cottage, which adjoins Hollingbourne House and which they rescued from a derelict wreck when they moved in 24 years ago.