A plan to build a gym at a Chalfont St Giles mansion where Doctor Who was filmed has been refused.

Officers denied Elmswell Ltd permission for its plans for the large outbuilding connected to the existing swimming pool of Elmswell House, Nightingales Lane.

Planners cited concerns about the development’s harm to the Green Belt and impact on local wildlife, pointing out that the sprawling mansion is over 300 per cent bigger than the original property.

However, the applicant claimed its plans for the house – which neighbours Noel Gallagher’s former home ‘the Sheiling’ – were merely the ‘modification of an existing building rather than a true extension’.

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They added: “Consequently we believe that, cumulatively, no material harm is engendered as a result of the proposal to either the architectural integrity of the building nor its setting.”

However, planning officers wrote: “The resultant dwelling would be significantly larger than the original dwelling on the site which has been previously extended.

“As such, the proposed works cannot be considered to be subordinate to the size and scale of the original dwelling house and constitute inappropriate development within the Green Belt.”

Elmswell was used as a location in the ‘Paradise Towers’ of Doctor Who in 1987.