Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been granted planning permission for a gym, tennis court and swimming pool at his Grade II-listed home in North Yorkshire.
Mr Sunak also plans to create a wildlife area in the paddock at Kirby Sigston Manor, near Northallerton, which is in his Richmond constituency.
The proposal was approved by Hambleton District Council’s planning committee on Thursday, despite some concerns it was too large and would have a negative impact on the setting of the manor house.
John Noone described the development as looking like a “large bungalow”, as reported by Teesside Live.
He added: “It does actually have an impact on the setting of the grade II manor house. When we went on the site visit you could clearly see the manor house from where we were stood.”
Council officers said the scheme would have “minimal” impact on the setting and other councillors were not as moved by the design concerns.
None of Mr Sunak’s neighbours objected to the plans, which involve building a new L-shaped stone building that will house the gym, swimming poll and shower facilities.
Mr Sunak purchased the property with his wife Akshata Murthy for £1.5m in 2015.
The lavish new development comes amid fury from Labour and some Tory backbench MPs in “red-wall” areas over plans to cut universal credit (UC) payments by £20 from October.
Mr Sunak previously stated that the £20 uplift to benefit – that was put in place during the Covid crisis – “was always intended to be a temporary measure”.
Labour’s this week said it would “maintain the uplift” if the party was in Government and replace UC with a “fairer” system.
