Bet365 billionaire Denise Coates has upset her neighbours by applying to build a zip wire for a children’s treehouse on her sprawling £90million estate.
The gambling boss – Britain’s richest businesswoman who was paid £221m during the last financial year – was given the greenlight to add two zip wires plus take-off and landing structures on her 52-acre estate in Cheshire.
But neighbours in the picturesque village complained that screeching from her five children and their friends could spook horses in nearby stables and an equestrian centre.
One local told : ‘Where will this end? A Log Flume? Big Dipper? This is meant to be a quiet place in the countryside.’
Ms Coates, 56, whose family is worth close to £7billion, moved into her mega-mansion around three years ago after buying up surrounding farmland and building an artificial lake, sunken tennis courts, ornamental gardens and a boathouse.
Locals living near the huge Cheshire home, which is said to have an Olympic size swimming pool, have compared the sprawling mansion to a Tesco Extra superstore
Bet365 founder Denise Coates has finally finished work on her £90m space-age mansion in Cheshire after snapping up £5.5m of her neighbours’ land. Pictured, in 2012 Mrs Coates was awarded a CBE
Among the plans included in Mrs Coates’ space-age mansion are designs for a tree house with a zip wire
The space-age mansion, which has been ungenerously compared by locals to a Tesco Extra superstore took half a decade to build before it was finally finished.
Coates’s brilliant-white house was designed by world famous architect firm Foster and Partners, the team who designed the Gherkin building in the City of London.
It includes an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a helipad for the two helicopters she commutes to work in.
She was awarded planning permission by Cheshire East Council to build the zip wires back in 2021 along with a recreational children’s treehouse which included a deck and play items including a fire man’s pole, ladder and slide.
However, Tania Harrison from a neighbouring equestrian centre objected to the plans and in a letter to the council said: ‘We have lived here for nearly 50 years, running the equestrian centre for around 30 years.
‘We have approximately 35 horses and have lost liveries lately as hacking hasn’t been easy with the increased amount of traffic. We are extremely worried about the zip lines, as when the traffic finally quietens down and our liveries can go for a hack, they’ll probably get bolted with by the sudden noise or screaming of people.
‘Also, people driving down the Lane might get distracted and lose concentration. We’re also worried that our horses/ liveries are out in the field all day and will get scared and injure themselves, as we have already had one injured by the road noise.
An artist’s impression of how Mrs Coates’ palatial home would look in the plans
Denise Coates had spent half a decade on renovation of the £90million home (pictured) before moving in with her husband and five children last year
‘Where will this end A Log Flume? Big Dipper? This is meant to be a quiet place in the countryside.’
Another neighbour, who owns stables backing on to Ms Coates’ land, also voiced opposition.
They wrote: ‘Horses are flight animals and the noise that a zip wire will make, particularly when they may be unable to see what is, may cause them to react, potentially in an unsafe way for both the horse and rider whilst on the road.
‘This lane, along with the neighbouring salt line, used to be an ideal location to take your horse out for exercise and this is the reason I chose to buy the yard.
‘Whilst myself and my liveries have endured the major disruption that this development has caused, I am accepting of the fact that it will end (at some point…), therefore the prospect of introducing something additional to the plans which will be ongoing and cause myself, and other horse owners who use the lane, additional anxiety is not something I can support.’
A third neighbour objected, saying: ‘Sudden noises caused by the structure being in action could cause panic to horses and riders resulting with injury to both. It is the sudden surprise and noise that would frighten the horse.’
Meanwhile it has emerged that Ms Coates has upset locals by staging loud fireworks displays on New Year’s Eve and Bonfire Night.
One woman who lives nearby told : ‘They are typically grand affairs, very, very loud and they go on for some time.
Neighbours have revealed the betting tycoon commutes to work in one of her two helicopters
‘My dog was terrified, she’s not good with loud bangs, and so I had to get up in the middle of the night and sit with her.
‘Denise Coates wasn’t the only person holding a fireworks party on New Year’s Eve and Bonfire night of course, there were several gatherings. But I live close to her and so it was her fireworks exploding in the sky near to my house.’
The woman, who asked not to be named, added: ‘She’s done so much work to the land and to be honest caused a lot of disruption to the village during the build but hasn’t ever really apologised or given us any kind of forewarning of what she was planning to do.
‘Still, she did have the lane that winds past her property retarmacked after the trucks ruined the surface of the road so I’m grateful to her for that at least.’