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Claudia Schiffer loses planning battle over sprawling Suffolk estate

The model wanted to block a neighbour’s plans to extend their cottage.

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Claudia Schiffer and Matthew Vaughn

Claudia Schiffer and her film-maker husband, Matthew Vaughn, have lost a planning dispute with a neighbour who wants to double the size of her cottage on the edge of their country estate.

The German catwalk star, 49, and Vaugh, 48, objected on the grounds that Coldham Hall, their west Suffolk mansion, would be “directly and adversely impacted” by the “oversized” extension.

Acting for the couple, planning firm hgh produced a report claiming the extension to Coldham Hall Cottage would have a “negative impact” on the estate, “further eroding their historic rural farmstead character”.

However, the resident of the cottage, Hanne Pilo, was last week granted permission by the district council to build a two-storey side and rear extension, and demolish an outbuilding to make way for a garage.

Ms Pilo has been given a deadline of three years to carry out the work.

Coldham Hall
Claudia Schiffer and Matthew Vaughn’s Suffolk mansion, Coldham Hall (Andrew Parsons/PA)

Schiffer and Vaughn have lived on the Grade I listed Tudor estate, south of Bury St Edmunds, for some 17 years, having purchased the property shortly before their wedding in 2002.

Vaugh is best known for gangster thrillers Snatch and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, and for directing the Kingsman series starring Taron Egerton.

Despite the couple’s opposition, planning officer Adam Yancey wrote that Ms Pilo’s work would cause little disruption to the Vaughns because of the 30m distance between the two properties.

He said: “It is therefore considered that the proposed extension will not result in any material adverse impact on the neighbouring property in terms of overlooking, loss of light or having an overbearing impact.”

He also said the cottage, which was built in the early to mid-20th century, had been incorrectly listed on the Historic England website as a listed property.

Schiffer and Vaughn live at Coldham Hall with their three children, Caspar, 16, Clementine, 14, and Cosima, nine.

According to Architectural Digest, the 14-bedroom mansion is set in 530 acres and is believed to have been given its name by Queen Elizabeth I after she was served cold ham there.

In a 2017 interview, Schiffer told the magazine that she and Vaughn wanted the property to be “child- and animal-proof”.

She is quoted as saying: “We’re not very formal. The whole idea of the house is that everyone can roam.

“I wanted it to be rustic so you felt like you could have muddy dogs running around and kids with jam on their hands.”

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