Sam Mendes submits development plans for Buckinghamshire house

Sam Mendes, director of James Bond films 'Skyfall' and 'Spectre', among many others, has submitted a planning application to Buckinghamshire Council for a large-scale redesign of the grounds of his Grade II property in the county, which he purchased in 2019 for £5.5 million but is now thought to be worth in the region of £6 million.

The proposed works include the replacement of a swimming pool in the grounds of The Old Vicarage on Turville Valley Road in Turville, alongside the construction of a pool house, greenhouse and garden store and associated landscape, boundary treatment, drainage and demolition works.

READ MORE: Look inside famous houses you could live in Bucks

Planning consultancy firm Edgars submitted the application for the enhancements to the property, which lies five miles west of High Wycombe, on behalf of Mr Mendes and his wife, musician Alison Balsom.

A planning, design and heritage letter states that the site’s pool enclosure and kitchen garden areas, where the proposed development would take place, are of “minimal architectural merit”, are “deteriorating” and “do not meet the needs of the applicant”.

The application also laid out plans for the construction of a 12.2m by 4.6m outdoor swimming pool with a 0.5m stone coping, three times bigger than its predecessor, a 3.9m by 4.9m pool pavilion, a reconfigured walled kitchen garden with an integrated 3.3m by 6m wide glasshouse and a rebuilt ha-ha, extending the full length of the southern site boundary.

Mr Mendes will need the permission of Buckinghamshire Council, acting as the Local Planning Authority, to commence further developmental work at his property due to the Grade II listed status of the Old Vicarage building and on-site barn.

While the proposals do not involve the demolition of either Grade-II listed building, an application for listed building consent was submitted by Edgars as a precaution due to the pre-1947 form of the ha-ha, which, if approved, would be extended to the western corner of the site and have its “unattractive modern blockwork” replaced with traditional red brick.

The property also lies within the Turville Conservation area and has several other listed buildings within its vicinity including St Mary’s Church.

However, the 'American Beauty' director has previously been granted planning permission by Buckinghamshire Council to make a raft of other changes to the property, including the relocation of an on-site greenhouse and the construction of new entrance gates.

A decision on whether permission will be granted for the new proposals is expected to be announced later this month.