Wealthy Chris Evans has needled Britain’s leading hedgehog expert with a plan to build a block of flats.
The Virgin Radio DJ could be poised to make £15million from putting up 14 luxury apartments on the site of his disused mansion.
But the scheme in Ascot, Berks, has become a prickly subject for neighbour and zoologist Dr Pat Morris because of the effect on wildlife.
Dr Morris, president of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, said: “We don’t like how development is being done around here.
“It’s a particular problem with Chris Evans’ site, which is one of the areas good for wildlife. They’re all being slowly eroded, and nibbled at, and lost – we’re not overjoyed at the development at all.
“There’s loads of money to be made in it around here but none of these developments offers anything to the local community. They only take away wildlife space, trees and screening and generally increase the density of housing and people.”
Evans, 54, once the BBC’s highest-paid star on a salary of up to £2.25million a year, bought the eight-bedroom mansion for £3.8million in 2009.
He was given the green light in December to demolish it and construction on the flats, which will have basement parking, is under way this week.
He must stick to a list of demands drawn up by the council, including that builders be supervised by ecology specialists and that measures are taken to avoid harm to nesting birds and bats which roost on the site.
Dr Morris said objections to the plan included increased traffic and noise.
He added: “The people who own these sorts of places then go on to move somewhere else and bank the profits.”
A spokesman for Evans, who lives six miles from Ascot with wife Natasha Shishmanian and their children, did not respond to requests for comment.
