RICKY Gervais has finally won a battle to build a new £5million Grand Designs-style mansion.
The comedian and actor has been fighting for two years to demolish his current four bedroom home and replace the building with a mega mansion – complete with a gym and tennis court.
Gervais‘ renovation plans have been scuppered several times in the past few years, but he’s finally been given the green light to build his dream home in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
This comes after The Office star, 64, has agreed to pay over £10,000 into the local council’s Carbon Offset fund.
Gervais’ plans were previously sunk by local council officials over flooding fears as the Thames-side pad which was flooded five times since 1947.
So the After Life creator re-submitted plans to include a 26ft-wide flood buffer zone along the Thames and raising the ground floor by 3ft.
Thankfully, there has been no complaints from neighbours, so Gervais can begin work on the mansion promptly.
The neo-Georgian-style new build will boast a grand entrance hall, gym, drawing room, reading area, lift and master bedroom with a terrace overlooking a tennis court and pond.
But a proposed side wing has been scrapped and an external staircase has been reduced.
Gervais first applied for planning permission in 2024 to knock down his “poorly designed” home.
But he hit a roadblock when 333 soprano pipistrelle bats were recorded emerging from the dwelling back in 2023.
He was forced to obtain a bat licence from Natural England as the bats are a protected species.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act it is an offence to disturb, injure or kill bats, or damage or obstruct their roosts.
This means it’s likely that Gervais will have to build a new bat loft in his garage, as well as erect two bat boxes in nearby trees, in line with the Bat Mitigation Strategy.
In a statement at the time, Gervais’ planning agent said: “Very careful consideration has been given to ensuring that the proposed redevelopment provides new maternity roosting opportunities for bats both in the short and longer term.
“The proposed scheme seeks to create a high-quality, sustainable dwelling that will be flood resilient and significantly enhances its built and natural surroundings, whilst also providing a significant enhanced standard of living accommodation.”
And last year, his house plan was subject to an objection by the Environment Agency as it was reportedly not delivering the biodiversity net gain of at least ten per cent.
This means the new development has to leave the natural habitat in at least a tenth better state than it is in currently.
The ecology team at the local authority has said that a pond can’t be included in the biodiversity net gain as it is part of a private urban garden.
Ecology experts told the iconic British star to include bee bricks and a hedgehog house as part of his designs.
The planning agent said: “It is worth noting that there were no objections from neighbours to the proposal.
“The proposed scheme seeks to create a high-quality, sustainable dwelling that will be flood resilient and significantly enhances its built and natural surroundings.”
Gervais also owns a £14.75 million nine-bed mansion in Hampstead, London, with a spa and gym, and two New York apartments.
