- Ron Burkle, the billionaire Soho House exec, wants to build a mansion in southern England.
- But local residents filed more than 30 objections to the plan.
- One said the proposed development is “more suited to Disneyland.”
An American billionaire’s plan to build a home in the English countryside is not going over well with local residents, one of whom said it was “more suited to Disneyland.”
Another called it “grotesque.”
Burkle, who’s worth $3.2 billion, founded The Yucaipa Companies investment firm nearly four decades ago. He’s made several notable business ventures since then, including in 2012 when he acquired a majority stake in Soho House, an exclusive members-only social club with properties worldwide.
New details about Ron Burkle’s proposal to build a sprawling home in Little Tew, a village of fewer than 500 residents, were submitted to the West Oxfordshire District Council in August. Burkle’s proposed home would be near Soho Farmhouse, a countryside outpost of the members-only chain.
Burkle is having a hard time, however, getting approval for his rural home from West Oxfordshire officials.
He initially submitted development plans to the council in 2022. But the council rejected the proposal because it didn’t meet certain planning criteria and “would fail to represent a truly outstanding development.” His team attended review meetings during 2023 and 2024 before re-submitting its latest revisions.
Burkle’s development plan includes a new lake and installing solar panels
Planning documents seen by Business Insider say Burkle’s home design was inspired by the “English Baroque style.”
The development would include several new amenities, including a stable courtyard, new highway accesses, solar panels, a swimming pool, a lake, a tree nursery, and other landscaping.
The home would sit on a 90-acre land block in Little Tew.
A West Oxfordshire District Council representative declined to comment because the application is still being assessed. A representative for Burkle did not respond to a request for comment from BI.
Little Tew residents are not happy
Since September, local residents have submitted over 30 objections to the council regarding the proposed development. In contrast, only two comments have been submitted in support.
Many residents said Burkle’s design proposal conflicted with local aesthetics and did not comply with local planning policies.
“It is as if someone had set out to write a modern opera in the classical manner, and had done so by writing each aria in the style of a different classical composer, covering musicians from Monteverdi to Mascagni via Mozart,” one objection read. “The result, as here, would be a conflated smorgasbord of dissonance.”
Another objection said the development would be “more suited to Disneyland,” citing potential risks to the local ecology, light pollution, and increased traffic.
“The creation of an artificial lake in an elevated area, not associated with expanses of water, is a vanity project,” one person wrote.
One resident called the proposed size of the home “grotesque” and said Burkle’s countryside home would “contrast greatly with the landscape and the cottages at the edge of the village.”
Little Tew’s council told BI that during a recent “well-attended” meeting, there was a unanimous vote in favor of objecting to Burkle’s application.
A document submitted to the West Oxfordshire District Council by Little Tew’s council said members objected to the proposal “on the grounds that it remains an unwarranted, unsustainable and unsuitable greenfield development that runs counter to the policies of the West Oxfordshire 2031 Local Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework 2023.”
“In summary, this development does nothing for the local area or its inhabitants, but has the potential to cause irreversible destruction to extensive flora and fauna, and the conservation area in which it thrives,” the document said.
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