Pippa Middleton told to dig up car park after planning refusal
The car park is located on the Wessex Downs, which has enhanced protections as a National Landscape
Pippa Middleton and her husband will have to dig up a car park on their Kintbury estate after a government planning inspector sided with West Berkshire Council’s decision to refuse permission for it.
The Princess of Wales’s sister and James Matthews had sought retrospective planning permission for the site on their Barton Court Estate, which had already been constructed last year.
But a subsequent appeal on West Berkshire Council’s refusal to grant permission also refused the application.
“Due to its size and engineered appearance the development has introduced a visually intrusive and urbanised feature in to an otherwise open meadow,” said the planning inspector Alexander O’Doherty.
The car park is an old paddock to the north of which is the River Kennet.
Agents for the couple had claimed the Barton Court Estate has a long history of fly fishing, saying it is an established leisure use which provides an important income to their rural business, providing for the upkeep of the river and proper husbandry of the surrounding land.
But they didn’t provide any financial information to back the claim.
Local Neil Warner told the planners there were plenty of footpaths used by anglers and said he was ‘shocked’ when the ‘ugly’ fence was put up.
“The ground should be reinstated forthwith to its former marsh status and planted with appropriate plants.
“Barton Court is a large estate, surely they have hardstanding on their own premises for anglers.”
The car park is located on the Wessex Downs, which has enhanced protections as a National Landscape, an area of particular scenic beauty.
Concerns had also been raised that vehicles exiting the car park, which was to be used by fishermen and angling clubs, would not have adequate visibility
Ms Middleton moved to the 18th-century property in 2022, with the couple previously engaging in a row after a ramblers group applied to recognise a public footpath on the land in 2023.
At a public inquiry earlier this year, Mr Matthews argued that privacy concerns and the high profile nature of his family resulted in the need for tighter security.
That inquiry is still to report its findings, but it was due in August. (2026).