Paul O’Grady’s widower loses battle to transform a hut on the rural estate he inherited from the late TV star into a villa three times the size

Paul O’Grady‘s widower has lost his battle to transform a hut on the £3million estate he inherited from the TV star into a villa three times its size.

Andre Portasio, 43, infuriated neighbors with his plan to convert a disused security post into a two-bedroom family home with a detached garage.

The dancer, who occasionally used the hut for ballet, was accused of trying to obtain planning permission through the ‘back door’ when he applied to Ashford council in Kent for a ‘change of use’ of the security lodge.

A viability report from Mr Portasio’s planning agent set out that the lodge had not been required as a security office since Mr O’Grady’s death in March 2023.

But the council rejected the application because the ‘unjustified development’ would create a ‘bulky’ and ‘intrusive’ building that would ‘damage the character and appearance of the countryside’.

Andre Portasio (right) submitted plans for the building’s new use after TV star Paul, who died last year, left him the vast farm in east Kent

The security hut in Paul O’Grady’s former home. Andre wanted to turn it into a house three times as big

Planning documents revealed he wanted to convert the 31m² lodge into a two-bedroom house with a separate garage.

The new house would have been laid on the footprint of the existing plot, with additional wings on either side to create a living room and bedroom with en suite bathroom.

But neighbor Sheila Garrard wrote to the council to complain that the plans would encroach on her own ‘listed’ home.

While another said he suspected the property would be developed and sold.

Ms Garrard complained: ‘I am disturbed to find out too late that there is an application in relation to this immediately adjacent plot, the boundary of which is only a few meters away from my own (listed) plot, for which I have not been appointed as a consultant.

‘I should add that the nearby roof of the site manager’s workshop, which is the subject of this application, is visible from my house.’

Fellow resident Peter Ashenden argued: ‘The current application is in direct conflict with the original planning conditions and, in my view, amounts to an attempt to obtain planning permission through the back door for a major housing development, which will undoubtedly be sold on. separated from the main building.’

‘I would like to object to this application for a change of use to ‘residential’ on the grounds that the original permit related to a dance studio, certainly without the prospect of residential occupancy.’

Mr Portasio thought the lodge close to the entrance to the property’s driveway could have been repurposed and asked surveyors to write a report listing its possible uses

Ballet dancer Mr. Portasio inherited the property after Paul’s death. His designs infuriated neighbors, who accused him of trying to get planning permission through the ‘back door’

The couple’s home had six bedrooms, a swimming pool and 56 hectares of land

Paul bought the farm in August 1999 for £650,000 and lived there with Mr Portasio.

Environmentalists were also concerned that the development would be out of sync with the local environment.

Katie Miller, Planning Manager of the Kent Downs National Landscape Unit, said: ‘The existing building, with its square proportions, extensive glazing and flat roofs, is of no particular architectural interest and does not contribute to the local distinctiveness of the Kent Downs. folk tongue.’

Mr Portasio was given the property in Ashford, Kent in March 2023 following Paul’s death at the age of 67.

For The Love Of Dogs presenter Paul bought the farm on a gently rolling hill eight miles outside Ashford in August 1999 for £650,000.

It has six bedrooms, a swimming pool and 52 hectares of land, as well as a further four hectares of woodland.

Mr Portasio, who met Paul in 2006 and married him 11 years later, has previously explained the traumatic day his husband died.

‘I went to the kitchen to prepare some food, and I started taking things out of the fridge. And suddenly I saw him on the ground,” he said.

‘I didn’t know what to think at first. He had a cut on his forehead and I thought he was probably just unconscious. “I called the ambulance and they said CPR was the best chance to keep him alive.”

Mr Portasio began CPR, which was later taken over by a paramedic, but to no avail.

Paul suffered from a heart rhythm disorder.