‘King of Mayfair’ billionaire refuses to remove windows at £40m house he did not have permission to install
By Jacob Phillips, Local Democracy Reporter
A London billionaire known as the ‘King of Mayfair’ is refusing to move three windows from his home despite being told to do so by the council.
Kensington and Chelsea council asked billionaire nightclub and restaurant entrepreneur Richard Caring to take the windows out of his £40million home in South Kensington as he did not have planning permission to install them.
But since he refused the council has now issued an enforcement notice ordering him to remove the windows within the next six months.
The 74-year-old, who owns celebrity hotspot restaurants the Ivy and Sexy Fish, as well as the private members’ club Annabel’s, hopes to appeal the decision and has appealed to the building watchdog, the Planning Inspectorate, The Guardian has reported.
Neighbours were already frustrated with the billionaire after he closed a main road for two weeks to have dozens of trees planted around his mansion.
Mr Caring previously told The Telegraph he was not aware of any enforcement notice being sent to him by Kensington and Chelsea council and he is in talks with the Tory-led authority about the development.
In the appeal, Mr Caring’s wife, Patricia, said the windows were “well designed, being appropriately proportioned and detailed to accord with the general Victorian character of the wider conservation area”.
The Planning Inspectorate expects written submissions from both parties by September 7, and an inspector would be sent to investigate the site to decide on the window’s future.
If the council loses the appeal it may have to pay Mr Caring’s costs. Kensington and Chelsea council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it can not comment on active planning inspectorate decisions.
A Kensington and Chelsea council spokesman said: “Planning regulations exist to protect neighbourhoods. We take breaches very seriously and work with landowners to investigate and fix issues quickly.”
Pictured top: Kensington and Chelsea town hall (Picture: Hannah Neary)
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