A billionaire family’s plan to build five new mansions at Blackburn in United Kingdom has sparked fierce opposition from residents of the area, who say that it could ruin the neighborhood’s character.
Mohsin and Zuber Issa, Indian-origin brothers who own the Blackburn-based Euro Garages Group, lodged a planning application in May to construct five huge mansions by knocking down eight houses belonging to them in the town, Daily Mail reported. Euro Garages is one of the leading independent fuel retailers in the European Union.
The planned mansions would be located about three miles from the home the Issa brothers grew up at — a tiny terrace house. Their parents came from India to the United Kingdom in the 1960s to work in a wool mill in Lancashire, the report added.
The brothers’ plans have invited much criticism from the area’s residents.
“As residents of Billinge End Road, my neighbors and I have several misgivings about the proposed demolition and development. Although the development directly affects us as neighbors, it also impacts homes on Meins Road, residents of Mellor who look out on to the valley, as well as the wider borough of Blackburn with Darwen,” a spokesman for residents in the area stated in a letter to Martin Kenny, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s principal planning officer, the Lancashire Telegraph reported.
Urging the council’s planning department to take note of the residents’ objections, the letter also pointed out that the proposed scheme in its present form could jeopardize the character and charm of the area, which “would have a negative impact on the whole borough,” the spokesperson said in the letter.
The residents also claim that Blackburn is grappling with many challenges, and some areas require huge improvements. “So, it is of paramount importance that high-quality areas are not undermined by insensitive development,” they said.
The five super-sized mansions have been dubbed as McMansions.
“The design of the development proposals can be described by the term McMansions with sheer size dominating over design quality,” the letter further said.
A design and access statement submitted as part of the planning application states that the existing homes are all dated early 20th century, and do not have notable architectural merit, reports said.
The Issa brothers recently sold their family home and bought a £25 million mega mansion in Knightsbridge. After the work to build an iceberg basement, which will house a swimming pool, gym, music room and cinema, is over, the property could be worth £80 million, according to estimates by estate agents, the Daily Mail reported.