BBC presenter Zeinab Bedawi 'will have to tear down £50k extension'

  • Camden Council to order Mrs Badawi to remove loft conversion

By Mail on Sunday Reporter
Updated:


One of the BBC’s most senior presenters has landed in trouble over a roof extension  at her home.

Zeinab Badawi is said to have converted the loft of her £1.85 million townhouse into an extra bedroom and en suite bathroom without first applying for planning permission.

Camden Council in north London is set to order Ms Badawi, 52, to remove it next week. The decision may cost her more than £50,000.

Clash: Extension row may cost Zeinab Badawi £50,000. She claimed she sought advice but was misinformed

Clash: Extension row may cost Zeinab Badawi £50,000. She claimed she sought advice but was misinformed

She claims she sought advice from the council before adding the extension to her six-bedroom Edwardian house in Belsize Park but was misinformed.

‘The applicant has stated that incorrect verbal advice was given by an officer at the council’s planning division,’ according to a council report.

‘Work on constructing the extension commenced subsequently. The council does not have a record of giving this advice.’

The council launched action against  Ms Badawi and last November she applied for retrospective planning permission.

Row: Camden Council (pictured) in north London is set to order Ms Badawi to remove the conversion next week

Row: Camden Council (pictured) in north London is set to order Ms Badawi to remove the conversion next week

Camden’s development control committee is expected to refuse that permission this week.

The row has divided local opinion, with the Belsize Conservation Area Advisory Committee objecting to the ‘size and bulk’ of the extension.

Ms Badawi, who presents World News Today on BBC Four and BBC World News, declined to comment.

BBC

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