David and Victoria Beckham have reportedly been given permission to plant a sprawling forest and wildflower meadow at their £12 million Cotswolds home.
The football legend, 50, and fashion designer, 51, snapped up the three listed barns near Great Tew, Oxfordshire, for £6.15 million in 2016.
They have angered neighbours with a series of elaborate renovations, including a new driveway and gates, a new garage, tennis court, treehouse, security hut, and a landscaped pond, which is all believed to have increased the property’s value to £12 million.
The couple - who are estranged from their eldest child Brooklyn - have had plans approved by the council to plant 79 trees and a meadow at their country residence, The Mail reported.
The woodland will include 12 European beech, 19 English oak, 15 small-leaved lime, eight field maple, seven Scots pine, five common hazel, five sycamore maple, four holly and four English yew.
It will complement the recently approved plans for a private driveway, which will provide “security-controlled access to the property with inward-opening gates”.
The approval from West Oxfordshire District Council comes after attempted break-ins at the Beckhams’ London and Cotswolds homes - which led to them installing 24-hour security.
The Standard has contacted the Beckhams’ representatives for comment.
Some of the superstar couple’s neighbours have hit out at their plans, claiming they were trying to turn their home into a “fortress” and had already undertaken work before getting approval.
“This current application is just a joke,” James Worthington previously told The Mirror after submitting a 45-page complaint.
“Why submit an application when you have already laid the road, installed gates, laid an electricity supply to the gate, planted trees, installed post and rail fencing along both sides of this track?”
The Beckhams, who count Simon Cowell and Jeremy Clarkson among their rural neighbours, were forced to withdraw a planning application for a new 250m access road in 2023 after a series of complaints.
At the time, local resident Worthington objected to the access road and sent the council photos that allegedly proved the couple had already started building work.
“A large spruce pine tree has been felled already, the roots are all in the ground, a membrane has already been laid, posts have been installed in the ground with barbed wire instead of rails on both sides of this already laid track,” he claimed in a letter.
“This track has recently been laid it was not there a year ago.”
Fellow resident Joan Lane, added: “I must strongly object to this proposal.
“The house already has got a perfectly serviceable access road so why is another stretch of tarmac laid through the woods deemed a good idea?
“Ramblers use the lane and they should be left undisturbed by giant SUVs lumbering up and down. Please do not allow this application.”
The Beckhams later won a case for a new access road as well as the woodland.
Their mansion currently has a single lane access, which is also the only way for visitors to drive to Soho Farmhouse, a luxury celebrity-favourite wellness retreat in Oxfordshire.
David and Victoria have homes across the world, from their listed Holland Park mansion to their Miami villa. The couple recently spoke of their love for their Cotswolds family home in Victoria’s new Netflix documentary.
Parts of the documentary were shot at the Beckhams’ Grade II-listed property near the Costwolds town of Chipping Norton.
“I wanted a place where we could escape,” David said. “As soon as I get up into the countryside, I normally get into my whole country get-up."
