Building work on George and Amal Clooney’s new marital mansion has been branded ‘carnage’ by outraged local residents who long for the peace and quiet of their sleepy village to be restored. 

The silver-haired Ocean’s Eleven actor, aged 54 years, was delighted to see his planning application to build a new swimming pool and tennis courts approved.

A further application to install CCTV cameras around the mansion sparked objections from residents of the Thameside village earlier this year, who feared the cameras would violate their privacy.

Despite their protestations, the project to fit 10 cameras along with eight wooden 18ft poles with further cameras around the stunning riverside home in Sonning Eye in Berkshire was approved this summer.

Outraged neighbours have now voiced new concerns regarding the eye-sore scaffolding, builders’ rubble and scores of lorries which have engulfed the 17th century Grade II listed Aberlash House mansion.

A woman living nearby, who asked not to be named, said: “I think the building work is disgusting and it’s starting to drive me mad!

“The whole place looks an absolute mess and it seems like there is no end in sight to the carnage.

“It should have finished by now anyway.”

Another resident said: “The peace of riverside Sonning has been completely shattered by the building work and by the builders themselves.

“The workers on the site are always yelling and shouting when people are trying to enjoy a walk along the river.

“It has really ruined the peace and quiet.”

The stunning property currently houses a gym and steam room, a library, study, family room, formal dining room and cellar and a boat house.

The annexe development will add a state-of-the-art 12-seater cinema for private home screenings to part of the greenhouse.

A new pool house, pergola and hot tub will be built onto the back of the existing riverside boat house, allowing George and his new wife Amal to luxuriate by the estuaries of the River Thames.

12-seater cinema and 18m pool 

The oak pergola will sit before an 18m swimming pool, surrounded in reclaimed York stone, surrounded by sun loungers and a bubbling jacuzzi.

New boundary fencing is being added around the riverside estate and new solid gates fitted for added privacy and security.

The heavily-criticised project comes just months after the revelation of the CCTV plan was slammed by residents and the local parish council as being an invasion of privacy.

Privacy invasion 

Each new camera installed will be housed in a protective vandal-resistant dome and could be tilted or panned to face in any direction, allowing Clooney and his barrister wife, Amal Alamuddin, to keep watch all around their property.

Eye and Dunsden Parish Council objected to the plans, claiming that the wide range of cameras would represent a “potential infringement of the privacy of neighbouring properties.”

It said the poles would be a “visual intrusion” into the village’s conservation area, adding: “A more appropriate security system could be achieved by a greater number of inward-facing low-level cameras.”

The couple’s planning agent, Paul Butt, submitted an amended application on July 13 this year which planned to reduce the height of the two tallest CCTV support posts.

Planning bosses rubber-stamped the amended plans, saying they “would not be detrimental to the special architectural and historic interest of the listed building or its setting.”

The council’s decision notice, dated Monday, August 3, added that the work must be carried out within three years of the date of consent.

Clooney and his wife bought their mansion last October after tying the knot in a star-studded ceremony in Venice. The couple moved out at Christmas while repairs were done to the listed property and they awaited the decisions on their planning applications.

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The nine-bedroom listed building sits on a four acre stretch of land straddling the Berkshire and Oxfordshire border in the picturesque quietude of the River Thames.

Set in four acres on the outskirts of the beautiful quaint village of Sonning, the Clooneys’ neighbours include Home Secretary Theresa May, Israeli illusionist Uri Geller and Led Zeppelin founding member and guitarist Jimmy Page.

The couple have been spotted dining at the village public house, The Bull Inn, and going to see a show at the neighbouring Mill at Sonning riverside theatre, as well as purchasing coffee at the nearby Riverside Tea Garden cafe.

Photo credit: INS News

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