‘Let’s not ruin our village,’ Mrs Rooney wrote this week in a letter to her local planning authority, Cheshire East Council. ‘The development would be in direct conflict with the national policy to protect green belt land.’
She went on to warn of the dangers of increased traffic and damage to the ‘special landscape, character and appearance of the area’.
‘Prestbury is an historic village and we need to preserve its character and setting,’ wrote Suzan Holder.
Harvey Wood, says: ‘There is a contradiction. The Rooneys’ house is like a mini office building and it seems slightly strange that they should object to what is a very sympathetic development on adjoining land.’
Peter Crouch, Wes Brown and Carlos Tevez have lived in the village at various times. The former England cricketer Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff is another well-known resident.
‘Since Wayne Rooney moved into the village it’s been a snowball effect,’ she said. ‘Some of the houses do need pulling down, but the houses they’re building to replace them are just so huge. They are going up to three storeys high. It’s destroying the character of the village.’
‘There is another story to this,’ says Mr Foden. ‘If you modernise a house, you pay VAT on it; if you build a new house, you don’t. So there is a financial advantage to knock-down and rebuild over renovation.’
‘Footballers and celebrities tend to spend their money out of the area rather than in it,’
