Like most people in the public sphere, Jonathan Ross is very particular about privacy. Towering yews and cypress trees surround the perimeter of his Grade II listed farm, which he bought for £1.1 million in 2005, in the coastal town of Swanage, Dorset.
The 16th-century property, accessed through an imposing wooden security gate, is hidden at the end of a single-track lane in a leafy residential neighbourhood.
Surrounded by six acres, it has its own orchard, stables, duck pond and an Olympic-size swimming pool and gym in a former cattle barn.
Locals say the TV presenter, 64, and his wife, screenwriter Jane Goldman, 54, are not here all year round.
After all, this is just your second home. They spend most of their time in Hampstead, north London, where their three eldest children, Honey, Betty and Harvey, reside, and head to the south coast to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
“You don’t see the Rosses very often, especially in the summer,” says retired boatman Dave Mutter, who lives with his wife Sandie in the coveted spot.
But the couple’s coastal retreat, it seems, is under threat.
Land adjacent to the Ross estate has been put up for sale and already has pre-planning approval for 92 homes, a percentage of which is likely to be affordable housing.
Jonathan Ross’s home in Swanage, Dorset, which he shares with his wife, screenwriter Jane Goldman. It was bought for £1.1 million in 2005.
The seafront at Swanage, Dorset, which sits on the Jurassic Coast. In recent years, wealthy Londoners have flocked here.
The news follows plans for a further 93 homes, on another site also adjacent to the presenter’s property, bringing the total proposed number of new builds on his land to 185.
What was once an isolated retreat on the Jurassic Coast could, if plans go ahead, become surrounded by a housing estate.
Ross was one of more than 50 people who wrote angry objections to the previous planning application, submitted in July, claiming any development “would be very distressing” for his family.
He added, in a letter printed on Dorset Council’s website: “We have rooms facing the proposed development… We are also concerned about the change to the fabric of local life caused by so much new housing in the area, and the Direct impact on traffic and services.
“Developers have approached us many times to ask us to buy our land for the same purpose and we have refused because we are aware of the impact it would have on the entire community.”
Other residents share their concerns, raising objections to the sale of the 4.4-acre, £5m site over issues ranging from noise pollution to traffic congestion and overloading of the sewage system.
But there are others who strongly support the plans.
As they told The Mail on Sunday last week, many feel it is rich for Jonathan Ross, who is worth a reported £28 million and owns one of the most expensive properties in the area, to oppose new homes, when Local families are struggling to get on the property ladder.
Mechanical engineer Robert Lansing, 38, says he, his wife Mandy and their two children were forced to leave Swanage and move to the nearby town of Wareham due to rising house prices.
He says new construction is urgently needed in the area, for young families like his.
His views coincide with those of the Labor government, which wants 1.5 million new homes to be built across the country.
Last Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer vowed to stop the Nimbys and environmentalists from “holding to ransom” for homes and infrastructure. Attacking “blockers and bureaucrats” who he says have “stifled” economic growth and made home ownership unaffordable, the prime minister said he would push for reform of Britain’s “ruinous” planning system.
Jonathan Ross with his wife Jane Goldman at the British Academy Game Awards in 2018
Lansing said he would support plans to build new homes in the Swanage area “if it means my family can return to the place where we were born”.
He explained: ‘We are desperate to return, if only we could find something we can afford financially. Obviously, Jonathan Ross doesn’t have that problem and just wants to keep his little piece of paradise in Dorset.
Lansing and his family aren’t the only locals who feel this way.
“Given we have an aging population here, care workers like me will desperately need them,” says Charlotte Sheridan, 29, a mother of two. “But the high prices keep me away from my family and friends because I can’t afford to shop in this area.”
Neither can shop assistant Deborah Price, 39, who rents with her husband while they save for a house deposit. “There is an obvious need for more affordable starter homes for families,” he told the Treasury. “It is depressing to see the prospects of buying in the city becoming increasingly difficult as time goes by.”
People like Price have seen how Swanage, a once prosperous seaside resort on the Isle of Purbeck, has changed dramatically in recent decades.
It was once an idyll of isolation: 60 square miles of picturesque chalk hills, sandwiched between Poole Harbor and the English Channel, with spectacular views of the Isle of Wight.
But in recent years, wealthy Londoners, fed up with the Cotswolds and the prices of the nearby Sandbanks, have flocked in, fueling demand and pushing house prices ever higher.
Today, the average sale price of a house in Swanage, according to property website Zoopla, is £508,220, almost double the UK average of £267,200.
Luxury homes now abound, and even the simplest properties are priced to match. A three-bedroom detached bungalow, for example, is currently on sale for £2.85 million.
Second home owners like the Rosses have been blamed for the changes in the city, and some residents have called for a ban on vacation rentals. The Government’s recently introduced council tax surcharge for second home owners, which comes into effect next April, has also been welcomed.
Jonathan Ross and his wife have visited Dorset regularly since the 1980s.
When the farmhouse, which they had been eyeing for some time, came on the market in 2005, they decided to buy it.
Locals nicknamed him “The Squire of Swanage”. And at first, he and his wife, who at the time had her hair dyed fiery red, raised a few eyebrows when they were spotted locally.
But the new resident made efforts to ingratiate himself, frequenting the nearby Anchor Inn, chatting with neighbors while walking dogs and introducing himself to plot owners over the fence.
In 2006, a year after moving in, he had support from residents when he needed permission to convert part of his property into a gym and tennis court.
They duly complied and the plans were carried out.
Nowadays, although he spends most of the year in London, he helps out at the city’s events, putting his name (and a sizeable donation) behind the annual regatta and carnival week.
Jonathan Ross with his wife Jane Goldman and one of their three eldest children, Honey Kinny Ross, at the screening of the film Barbie in London last year.
Landscape gardener Michael Rutter, 56, says this is a change from other city residents, who have no interest in being part of the community; Ross at least “wanted to be part of the local scene.”
The presenter was not available for comment this week, nor did he appear to reside at his Swanage home.
But if locals who cannot access the property welcome the plans, neighbors thanked Jonathan for speaking out, citing problems with traffic, schools already full and other services under pressure.
“Everyone is upset about this, and Jonathan Ross is absolutely right to stand up and say enough is enough,” local Simon Chester, 59, told The Mail on Sunday.
He says there are already long waiting lists for NHS doctors and dentists in the area.
“This will only get worse if they build more houses there without adding more doctors and dental offices,” he adds.
Montagu Evans, the property consultant behind the sale of the site, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did architect Mountford Pigott, who drew up plans for the development.
The site went up for sale last month and it will ultimately be up to the buyer to decide what to do with it.
One imagines that Jonathan Ross, as well as the rest of the city, will be eagerly waiting to find out.
But inevitably the Squire of Swanage will never be as affected as other members of the community. “In the end, you will have the money to move on to a new
place if you don’t like what’s going on,” says retired boatman Dave Mutter.
“We’re all stuck here and we have to live with the consequences.”