David Beckham and Victoria Beckham are facing a new row from neighbors over further changes to their £6million Cotswolds home.
The couple have submitted plans to plant 79 trees and create a flower meadow following several changes to the property’s landscaping. The proposal follows previous approvals to upgrade an agricultural path into a permanent driveway, which will serve as the main entrance to the estate.
Planning documents show the scheme includes native trees such as oak, beech and Scots pine along the new driveway. Lime, maple, hazel, holly and yew trees will also cover the woodland – aimed at increasing privacy and security following previous burglary attempts at their homes in London and the countryside.
However, some residents have objected to more changes. One neighbor filed a 43-page complaint, alleging that much of the work appears to have been completed before formal approval.
He warned that if the council approved the plan, the country house would turn into a fortress. “This current application is just a joke,” the complaint read, according to The Mirror.
“Why apply when you have already built the road, erected fences, installed electricity to the gate, planted trees, installed post and rail fences along both sides of this track?”
Tensions between the Beckhams and the local population are not new. The disputes date back to 2020, when plans for a manned security gatehouse raised eyebrows, with some residents claiming it would ruin the ambiance of the Oxfordshire estate. The neighbors eventually withdrew their complaint, per The sun.
“Farms and agricultural buildings don’t have gatehouses and security huts,” a local resident had reportedly complained in response to David’s plans to increase security with a gatehouse guarded by staff 24 hours a day and an underground escape tunnel.
At the time, Victoria and David were spending the COVID lockdown at their Cotswolds home with three of their children, Romeo, Cruz and Harper. Their eldest, now estranged son, Brooklyn, spent lockdown in Los Angeles with then-girlfriend, now wife Nicola Peltz, at her family’s multimillion-dollar home.
More recently, further objections have been raised to last year’s plans for a storage shed. The Beckham family has also received permission for additions including a vegetable garden and greenhouse.
An irritated local complained: “This is just the latest in a long line of requests to build new structures on this land, plus a gigantic lake. Why do famous people move to the countryside and then litter their land with endless buildings and make foolish changes? There’s no point.”
The latest proposals for 12 European beech trees, 19 English oak trees, 15 small-leaved lime trees, eight field maples, seven Scots pine trees, five hazel trees, five common maples, four holly trees and four English yew trees are now with the council.
