Man United star Gary Neville set to get green light for £8m 'Teletubby' eco-bunker built into a hillside
It might look like a home fit for the Teletubbies but Gary Neville's multi-million pound eco-mansion is set to get the green light.
Despite fierce objections from residents, the controversial plans for the underground bunker have been given a glowing recommendation by councillors.
Even sniggers around Old Trafford, with the home being dubbed 'Neville Neville Land' and 'Tinky Winky's house' have not put the Manchester United player off.
The four-bedroom home will be built on Neville's £8million estate in Harwood, Lancashire.
The flower-like underground mansion will be fuelled by a wind turbine, ground-source heat pump and solar panels - making it the first zero-carbon home in Bolton.
In a report ahead of a planning meeting on Thursday, the four bedroom zero-carbon 'home of the future' is described as having an exceptionally high quality of design and a sensitive relationship with the surrounding landscape and its neighbouring residents.
But even if Bolton Council's planning committee backs the scheme, a final decision would be made by the Secretary of State.
And they will have to take into account the views of the people from the neighbouring villages of Bradshaw, Tottington and Affetside who have complained bitterly about the plans.
Campaigners have even set up a group called RAGE (Rise Against Greenbelt Exploitation) to fight the development and have raised £1,000 towards employing legal and environmental experts and have vowed to fight the application at every turn.
They are upset that Neville gave a presentation to councillors about his plans for 8,000sq ft bunker before formally submitting them.
Neville, 34, already owns the land which is part of an 18th century farming hamlet which he bought five years ago.
He converted it into a 12-bedroom mansion for himself and his wife, Emma. Under the plans, the current house would also be powered by the renewable energy sources from the new development.
Any extra energy supplying the national grid, helping to reduce his family's carbon footprint.
Joanne Wilcock, chairman of the Affetside Society, said: 'We're flabbergasted that given all of the facts, that they can still recommend approval for this scheme.
'We have had experts look at things and critique the plans, our acoustic expert has said that the noise levels from the turbine would reach the limit and there are concerns that the ecological survey hasn't been done properly, yet Bolton Council has not mentioned any of that in the report.'
The group is planning to send a letter detailing their objections to each member of the planning committee before Thursday's meeting.
Town planning consultant Richard Gee, who has agreed to work for free for the campaigners, says the information in Mr Neville's application did not 'stand up to scrutiny'.
He said: 'Where information has been provided, it has been shown by regional and national experts to be flawed and, in some cases, information that is required simply isn't available.'
The proposals for the home, which is in green belt land, have attracted 132 letters, of which 114 are against the development, and a number of petitions.
Bolton North East MP David Crausby has also written to the authority supporting constituents' concerns.
And even Manchester United fans are not particularly supportive of the scheme.
One said: 'Gary has obviously worked very hard but some of the Old Trafford lads have already been sniggering about it looking like the Teletubbies house and going "eh oh" when they talk about it.
'One or two keep talking about Neville Neville land gets a Tinky Winky house in the garden.'
No-one from Make Architects, who have designed the project for Mr Neville, was available for comment.
But the artist's impressions and initial plans said the design 'enables the surrounding moorland to seamlessly flow across the roof'.
The architects compared it to Skara Brae neolithic settlement in Orkney, because of the way it is built into the ground.
Planning laws allow the building of house on green belt land, providing the designs are 'truly outstanding and ground-breaking'.
SOURCE: Daily Mail
