Residents of a picturesque Cotswolds village where F1 racing team boss Christian Horner and his pop star wife Geri got permission to build a second swimming pool at their mansion are furious that their objections were ignored.
They fear the 40-foot outdoor pool will become a magnet for the power couple’s jet-setting friends and that the noise they make will make their lives miserable.
A resident of the wealthy village of Marston St Lawrence, in south Northamptonshire, said: “This is a quiet little village and always has been, until this couple moved there.”
Now we’re going to have to endure months and months of noisy construction work, and then years of having to listen to the Horners and their friends having fun day and night around the backyard pool.
‘The back of their house overlooks several nearby properties and I think it would be fair to say that their lives are about to become quite miserable.
Locals are furious after Christian Horner and his wife, pop star Geri Halliwell, were given the go-ahead to build a swimming pool at their Grade II listed mansion.
Residents fear the 40-foot pool will become a magnet for the couple’s jet-setting friends and that the disturbance will make their lives miserable.
It was also learned that the Horners already have a pool in their mansion (pictured)
‘I mean, if someone is throwing a pool party, who comes home before midnight?’
It also emerged that the Horners already have an indoor swimming pool in one of their mansion’s barns, with changing rooms and a gym, prompting further complaints from locals.
Another resident, in her 50s and who has lived in the town all her life, said: ‘A second pool? He’s downright greedy, isn’t he?
The furious neighbor added: “Surely they don’t need two swimming pools.” Most people would settle for one, if they could.
—They’re not getting very popular around here, that’s for sure.
‘In reality they have not integrated into the town. We barely see them and when we do, they are very distant in their manners. I don’t have time for either of them.
Planning documents showed the Spice Girl, 51, and F1 Red Bull team boss, 50, had applied to install the pool in their garden, along with decorative plantings including a new vegetable and rose garden with arches. of trees.
But council officers have turned their attention to any potential disturbance to the land due to construction work.
The site has a “long history of human occupation” dating back 900,000 years, to the Ancient Stone Age, according to Oxford Archaeology.
Some excavations in the town have uncovered medieval and undated remains, the organization said.
As a condition of the works, a program of ‘observation, research, recording, analysis and publication’ is required during the pool construction phase.
Many locals who worship at the 17th-century church, St Lawrence’s, which sits exactly opposite the Grade II-listed Horners’ mansion, had voiced their objections to the pool planning application from the beginning.
They argued that the noise generated by gatherings at the Horners’ pool would potentially drown out services at the historic church, a mainstay of the charming village.
Christian (left) and Geri Horner (centre) photographed at the Jeddah Grand Prix. Locals are concerned that the couple’s new pool has a noisy heat pump and will attract social gatherings that could disrupt the nearby church.
An angry nearby neighbor said the couple behaved “aloof” in the village and were rarely seen.
One parishioner said: ‘The church is just a few meters from their house and if there is a pool party on a Sunday, how are we going to listen to the service?’ I’m afraid this is a very bad decision by the council.
“It’s further proof that it’s a rich man’s world, and there aren’t many people richer than this pair around here.”
“I guess from now on, the vicar will have to project his voice a few decibels higher.”
Another local resident, a retired accountant in his 70s, said: “I heard this reddish pool also comes with a heat pump, so it’s going to make a fuss.” I wish they would go to California or somewhere more to their liking.
‘This is a beautiful town, loved for its peace and serenity. This development of swimming pools goes against those values. “I am very disappointed and urge the Horners to reconsider their plans.”
The rector of St Lawrence’s Church, the Reverend Nicholas Leggett, said he “didn’t know” the pool had been given the go-ahead when approached by MailOnline.
He said: ‘This is news to me. I had no idea it had been approved. I don’t want to comment further until I’ve checked the details for myself and talked to a few people about it. I need to make some inquiries.