Sir Alex Ferguson's mansion battle: former Man Utd manager challenges neighbours over plans to build 10,000sq ft house next to £2.3m home

Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has ramped up his battle with neighbours who want to build a three-storey mansion next to his £2.3 million home.

He successfully challenged proposals last year to demolish a two-storey, 3,500sqft detached house on the site in Wilmslow, Cheshire and replace it with a six-bedroom 10,000sqft home, objecting “in the strongest terms” and claiming it was too big and poorly designed.

A redesigned scheme has now been put before Cheshire East Council planners but Sir Alex, 78, who lives next door with his wife Cathy, argues that the new-look plan should get the red card, too.

In a letter to council planners, consultants acting for Sir Alex, who is a director and an ambassador at the football club he led to 13 Premier League titles, said: “It is acknowledged that the redesigned scheme now varies in height, which goes some way to reducing the building’s prominence in the street scene, although we do not consider this to be sufficient as the central section of the building is the same height as in the last application."

Concerns were also raised that the site contains areas that are “at high risk of surface water flooding” and noted that a full flood risk assessment had not been included in the application.

In November last year, councillors ruled the original proposal would result in a home that would be “excessively prominent within the street scene and would not be in keeping with the scale of other buildings in the locality by reason of its combined height, width and resultant mass”.

They went on: “The proposed development would result in a dwelling house with the appearance of providing three habitable storeys in an area with an established character of two-storey properties. Accordingly, the scale of development is inappropriate.”

The neighbours, Peter and Josephine Wilson, were selling their home and had made their application after interested buyers indicated they wanted permission for the plans first. However, Sir Alex claimed the new property would be too near his land and out of keeping with others in the street.

A decision on the latest plan is scheduled next month.

Sir Alex, who retired from football in 2013 as Britain’s most successful football manager, had emergency surgery for a brain haemorrhage in May 2018 and after staging a remarkable recovery, went on to raise £400,000 for the NHS as a thank you.

Additional reporting by PA.