I'm A Celeb's Ant McPartlin moves out of £6m mansion after dispute with neighbours
I'm A Celebrity presenter Ant McPartlin is to leave his £6 million Wimbledon mansion following a feud with his neighbours
Ant McPartlin and his wife, Anne-Marie, are reportedly preparing to leave their home of six years after losing a lengthy battle with his neighbours over trees. The £6 million property is believed to have undergone extensive renovations which cost the couple a fortune.
The I'm A Celebrity presenter moved into the home in 2019, and he and Anne-Marie are said to have invested thousands of pounds in major additions and upgrades to the house, including a swimming pool and two single-storey extensions.
Situated in Wimbledon, the property boasts seven bedrooms, five reception rooms, a cinema, sun room, walk in wardrobe, study and office as well as a spacious kitchen and Victorian-style changing room for the swimming pool.
In February 2024, it emerged that additional renovation plans required approval to cut down four cypress trees, a pine tree and a yew tree. Although these trees were protected under a Tree Preservation Order, permission was granted.
This decision reportedly infuriated neighbours, who submitted objection letters claiming the couple was setting out to cut down healthy trees for "no justification."
One letter read: "'No justification is given for felling these substantial trees, other than the applicant's wish to allow re-landscaping of part of their garden." The author added that there was "no suggestion" that the trees were dangerous or diseased and the "personal whim" of the applicant should therefore not override the "benefit to the community" of keeping the trees.
Ant and Anne-Marie later submitted updated plans for extending their garden rooms that would stop all six trees from being cut down.
In their design statement, their planning agent noted that permission had already been granted to remove the trees, but the couple opted to keep them and modify their plans to build around them, the Mirror reports.
With the new design, the extension would sit on a specialised screw-pile foundation attached to a timer frame with a suspended floor, allowing the rooms to be "nested" within the trees.
To accommodate the structure, the lower branches of three trees would need to be trimmed, but that was considered unlikely to affect their health or stability.
A tree expert wrote a report to assess the viability of the plans, and said: "'It is my opinion that the method of construction proposed by the tree owners is the least impactive possible. It clearly demonstrates the property owners are going over and above to minimise ground disturbance."
However, now a year on the couple are reportedly scrapping their plans to extend the property and instead moving elsewhere.
A source revealed to the Daily Mail: "They sank hundreds of thousands of pounds into their dream home but have now decided to go somewhere else. It's surprising after all that they spent on the place but Ant's got plenty of money to sink into their next home and make it just how they want."
A representative for Ant said: "Ant and Anne-Marie are not moving because of planning issues, they are moving for family reasons."
Before relocating to his Wimbledon home, Ant lived next door to his TV partner Declan Donnelly in Chiswick. He shared the Chiswick home with make-up artist Lisa Armstrong, but following their split, Ant moved out and left the property to his ex-wife.