THEY wanted to dig a giant basement beneath their grade-II*-listed Highgate home, but after pressure from neighbours the Maury family will have to make do for now with a new roof window.
Richard Maury, who lives with his wife and daughter in exclusive Holly Village in Chester Road, tried three times for permission to create a basement with Teletubby-style windows cut into the village’s communal lawn.
The Victorian Society joined 10 of the 11 other households in opposing the basement plan.
The proposal was also criticised by English Heritage, Dartmouth Park Conservation Area advisory committee and the Highgate Society, and thrown out three times by Camden Council’s planning officials.
But the basement is nowhere to be seen in the latest plans filed at the Town Hall, which include only minor internal changes and a discreet new window in the roof facing away from the village’s manicured lawns.
Ian Dungavell, director of the Victorian Society, praised the new plans and congratulated the Maurys for listening to the objectors.
Next-door neighbour Cecily Blunt said: “I’m highly relieved that they’re not doing the basement. Internal alterations are fine.”
But when the New Journal spoke to Mr Maury, he refused to confirm that the villagers had seen the last of the Teletubby-style basement.