Channel 4 celebrity interior designer Mrs. Bling is facing a legal challenge to keep a bikini sunroom she constructed without proper authorization in her £4 million Sandbanks home. The dispute centers on the unauthorized construction and the potential legal repercussions she may face.
Celebrity interior designer Celia Sawyer is engaged in a legal battle to retain a sunroom she installed without authorization at her Sandbanks home. Featured on Channel 4’s Four Rooms, Sawyer had the glass structure built in 2020. The sunroom, situated at the bottom of her garden, is just 1.5 feet from the edge of Poole Harbor.
The 21ft by 15ft sunroom, surrounded by composite decking and featuring a sandy garden with sunloungers, has been a favorite spot for Celia Sawyer. She has enjoyed using it over the past four years, often sunbathing in her bikini during the summer.
However, last year, Sawyer found herself in a planning dispute with her neighbor, Neil Kennedy, who had built a first-floor balcony without permission. Sawyer claimed that Kennedy’s balcony allowed him to overlook the bottom of her garden, where she sunbathes.
Celia Sawyer, 58, and her husband Nick were unsuccessful in their dispute when the local council granted Neil Kennedy retrospective planning permission for his unauthorized balcony. Sawyer criticized the decision as “a disgrace” and “unfair,” expressing discomfort about Kennedy being able to see into their garden from his balcony while she sunbathed in her bikini.
Following this, BCP Council received an anonymous complaint about the Sawyers’ sunroom, which also lacked planning permission. The council has invited the Sawyers to submit a retrospective planning application to legalize the structure.
A significant hurdle they face is that the sunroom’s location, being so close to the water’s edge, falls within a flood zone three area, indicating a high risk of flooding from the sea.
Typically, new buildings are prohibited in flood zone three areas. However, a flooding expert has indicated that, since the sunroom is not intended for habitation, it may be permissible.
BCP Council’s planning department is expected to make a decision on the matter by the end of the week. If planning permission is denied, Celia Sawyer may be required to demolish the sunroom.
Neither Sawyer nor her neighbor, Neil Kennedy, have commented on the issue. However, a supportive letter from neighbor Paul Pressland praises the sunroom, stating, “The sunroom is well designed and makes a positive contribution to the waterside of this part of the harbor.”
