George Clooney and Amal Renovating Their Home in Berkshire England

It is a good thing annemarie.  I'm so happy for him.  He's a good man and deserves to be with someone he finds extra special and who will appreciate all his wonderful qualities.

From the horse's mouth.......from the Tomorrowland press conference at Claridges


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Here's a slightly different angle on the surveillance cameras story with a special request from the Clooneys legal team.......

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George Clooney risks village fall out with plan for 18 spy cameras

ACTOR George Clooney is in danger of upsetting some of his British neighbours by attempting to keep secret a plan to place 18 security cameras around his home.

He is seeking permission to put up eight CCTV cameras on poles in the grounds of his Thamesside mansion and attach a further 10 cameras to the Grade II listed property. The cameras can be tilted to face in any direction. 

Clooney, 54, and wife human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin bought the sprawling £10million mansion last year. At the time he said he hoped to be just another member of the local community, speaking of his love of downing pints in the village pub.

But now he is asking South Oxfordshire District Council for permission for the CCTV cameras. 

A letter from the actor's planning representative asks that the proposals are not displayed on the council’s website, “in the interests of confidentiality in seeking to protect the security of the occupiers”.

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An aerial view of Clooney's mansion
Such a move would deny neighbours in Sonning-on-Thames the right to see – and potentially object to – his application. 

The parish council has now objected to the proposals, saying the “wide range” of the cameras “represents a potential infringement of the privacy of neighbouring properties”.

It added that the poles would be a visual intrusion into the village’s conservation area and suggested inward-facing low-level cameras instead. 



South Oxfordshire District Council’s conservation officer has recommended approval, as long as the cameras can easily be removed from the building.

Clooney’s side amended their application last week to reduce the height of two of the poles.

A spokesman from South Oxfordshire District Council said: “The application was amended on July 13 following concerns raised by the parish council about CCTV support poles. 

“The parish council have been re-consulted on this amendment and their response is due before August 3.”

However, the final say lies with the district council. Two months ago it approved the Clooneys' plans for a new swimming pool, pool house, home cinema and annexe, a replacement river house and new boundary fencing. The couple agreed to reduce the size of the river house.

It looks like they are trying to work with everyone and find a solution. I can understand not wanting the placement of the cameras made public.

George and Amal hopefully will get what they need for their safety.

I moved the PR post to the thread below

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Things are calming down pretty quickly in Sonning now - despite the headline.....


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George Clooney upsets new Sonning neighbours and parish council with CCTV plans

Hollywood A-listers George and Amal Clooney are planning to attach CCTV cameras to eight poles around their £5 million property in Sonning Eye

George Clooney and his wife Amal have upset their new neighbours and the parish council with plans to install security cameras on towering support poles around their £5 million property in Sonning Eye.
Their initial proposals to install eight tall support posts with CCTV cameras attached were met with objections from Eye and Dunsden Parish Council and reportedly upset several local residents.
The Hollywood power couple are seeking planning permission to install eight security cameras, encased in protective domes and attached to posts around the grounds of their property.
They are also looking to attach ten cameras to the grade II listed building in Sonning Eye, Reading.
But the parish council opposed the 54-year-old actor's original application.
Councillors argue positioning a camera on a six-metre pole towards the weir and a camera on a four and a half metre pole on the riverbank could impact on both neighbours' privacy and the look of the area.
"The cameras would have pointed out along the river so they would have had a visual impact on the village and some of them would have been positioned so they could look into peoples' gardens."
But the couple's planning agent, Paul Butt, has now submitted an amended application on Monday, July 13, which planned to reduce the height of the two controversial support posts.
Parish council chairman Cllr David Woodward said: "We are not questioning their need for security.
"We have no doubt that they need to be protected from prying press and looney Clooney fans.
"We just questioned the height of some of the poles that the cameras would be attached to and asked would it not be better to have the cameras on shorter polls.
“He (Clooney) has since put in a revised application which promised to lower some of the polls. They want to install 18 cameras, and originally wanted to position one camera on a six-metre pole and one on a four-metre pole.
"The cameras would have pointed out along the river so they would have had a visual impact on the village and some of them would have been positioned so they could look into peoples' gardens.
"The local residents who would be impacted by the cameras live in Berkshire, and because we are in Oxfordshire, they were not made aware of the application and were not given an opportunity to object. But several residents did voice objections."
"However, in the new application they have agreed the six metre pole will come down to five metres and the four meter pole will come down to three and a half metres.
He added: "We just wanted to make sure the cameras were not able to look beyond his property and that they did not have an unnecessary impact on the village.
"We do not oppose the revised application and at this point it seems like it will be approved."
South Oxfordshire District Council will make the final decision.
It has previously approved the couple's plans to install a swimming pool, pool house and home cinema room in May, despite opposition from the Parish Council, who objected because it wanted the fencing set further back from the river.
The district council conservation officer has also recommended approving the proposals, provided the cameras are easy to detach.
The Oceans Eleven star and his barrister wife purchased the nine-bedroom 17th century mansion in October.

The headline of that article is sensationalistic and doesn't really capture the actual statements made by the parish council in the article. It sounds like they've cleared things up and everything is moving along now, the council just wanted some amendments and it looks like George has agreed to them. No big deal. Lol.

The headline makes it sound like the neighbours are outside his property with pitchforks ready. Lol when in fact it's all been handled in a civil manner.

Exactly, Kat.........and this all happened a fortnight ago..........

A mountain created by the media out of a molehill.

I figured it would get resolved reasonably.

Thanks PAN!

But the "looney Clooney fans" have already booked their tickets for the Thames River Boat Casamigos Party in October !

Great article in the Hollywood Reporter about the neighbours not being upset.

Sorry can't do link. Away and on ipad

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George Clooney's English Neighbors Downplay Security Spat
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by Alex Ritman
7/29/2015 5:32am PDT

Amid reports of locals being upset about the actor's plans for CCTV cameras around his new $16 million country manor, THR visits the small village of Sonning-on-Thames.

George Clooney might not have upset his new British neighbors as much as previously thought.
Just a week ago, it emerged that the actor had come up against the residents of Sonning-on-Thames, a sleepy English village 33 miles west of London where he recently purchased a $15.57 million mansion for himself and his new wife, Amal Alamuddin.
A planning application for 18 CCTV security cameras, including eight on wooden poles up to 16 feet high around the sprawling nine-bedroom, 17th-century manor — known as the Mill House — had forced an objection by the local parish council, the local civil authority.
“When you are strolling next to a pretty riverbank, it’s a visual intrusion close to where people are walking,” said David Woodward, chair of the Eye and Dunsden Parish Council, at the time, adding that the cameras could also be a privacy concern for Clooney’s neighbors.

                          

But when THR visited Sonning-on-Thames, this reporter couldn't find a single disgruntled villager, much less a pack of angry locals with raised pitchforks and shotguns.
“I think [the parish council members] just like to have something to complain about,” one resident tells The Hollywood Reporter while rolling his eyes, pointing out that he could actually walk to the Mill House through the field at the back of his garden. "But it’s so well covered that even if they had floodlights on there, I wouldn’t be able to see them. And anyway, there’s a lot of money here, so there’s a lot of big gates and security."
He’s not wrong.
Straddling the famed waters of the Thames but far from the bustle of London, Sonning was once described as "the most fairy-like nook on the whole river." And with a population in the low thousands, it’s about as quintessentially upper-class rural English as they come. Enormous converted farmhouses with names like 'The Homestead,' 'Long Gardens' and 'Heather Cottage' sit by the lush green banks of the water, while ancient crumbling barns are a reminder of the region's agricultural past. The whole area is somewhere you can easily imagine Richard Curtis scripting a wedding, complete with Rowan Atkinson as a bumbling vicar falling off a bicycle as Stephen Fry roars past in an open-top Jaguar, colorful scarf flapping in the wind.
Clooney apparently fell in love with the area while shooting The Monuments Men here in 2013, snapping up the property last October. But he’s not the only celebrity to call it home. Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page has a house here, as does spoon-bending self-proclaimed psychic (and former Michael Jackson BFF) Uri Geller. "If you want to see security, check out the gates on HIS place," one local tells THR.
Clooney’s manor actually sits on an island between two branches of the river, an even smaller collection of estates known as Sonning Eye. Surrounded by dense, towering trees and weeping willows that droop lazily into the water, it comes with a fairly sturdy — and undeniably picturesque — natural security system already in place. From the opposite bank, there are only a few glimpses of the property available through the leaves, limited to the roof, while the occasional flash of yellow betrays the presence of a bulldozer (the noise of drills and hammers suggests there’s a great deal of work already going on). The intermittent boats that slowly cruise past would have little idea there was even a house there, let alone one with A-list celebrities within.

                         

“I suppose people could reach him by dinghy, and that’s what he wants to stop,” another local resident tells THR, pointing out that he couldn’t see the place either. “If he wants to put up cameras and a big gate, fair play to him. I know I would.”
But it’s not just about security. Two months ago, an application was put in for a new swimming pool, pool house, glasshouse, home cinema room and annex, plus the demolition and rebuilding of a river house and new boundary fencing. The parish council objected, reportedly wanting the fencing pushed further back, but the local district council — the bigger governmental entity — overruled and approved the plans, asking only that Clooney reduce the size of the river house. The actor agreed.
“The Mill House actually used to be a bit of a problem,” one resident of 30 years tells THR, saying he was pleased someone was finally fixing the place up. “Years ago, there were illegal parties there that would go on till three in the morning. You could hear it all night. Once the police were called to shut it down.”
The only real issue with his new celebrity neighbor, he envisaged, would be the influx of visitors and media looking for photos. "Once they’re ensconced there, there’s only a single-lane bridge over the river, so it could become a problem," he said, adding that he'd heard the couple were moving in this September.

                          

Just a short walk over this single-lane bridge lurks another spot where Clooney has also generated headlines for coming up against local resistance, although this time from a far higher power.
The Bull Inn, set in building that dates back to the 16th century, is a traditional Shakespearean-era English drinking hole, replete with white walls, dark wooden low beams and dim lights inside. So taken with his new local was Clooney — reportedly calling it “the greatest pub in the world” — that he made an inquiry about purchasing the place.
But the Church of England, which owns the site (St. Andrews Church sits just next door) and leases it to the brewer, Fullers, isn't looking to cash in.
“The church won’t sell it to him,” The Bull’s barman explains to THR, affectionately referring to his new celebrity regular as "Georgey." “Fullers has been trying for years.”
While Clooney’s plans to enter the pub business might have stalled, THR found that his imminent arrival in Sonning hasn’t rustled as many feathers as previously reported. Aside from a few extra camera clicks, it seems this picture-postcard village will remain just that, with the new couple safely concealed behind some of mother nature’s thickest defenses.
And as for the security cameras, few locals believe the parish council will manage to stop the plans. As one says to THR: “He’s got clout and he’s got money.”

Thanks PAN and melbert.  Finally some sensible reporting.

I always thought that it was a made-up Story.
Of course it causes some noise and traffic and maybe dust when somebody is renovating a house but that's only a short time and then everything will be fine. And I'm sure the Sonning people know this. So maybe somebody was complaining - as you will always find somebody who complains - and the tabloids made up this Story. Or maybe they just invented "The neighbours have to be bothered" and wrote this story.

I know this area quite well, we have friends in Oxfordshire and I know that they in general are very polite and since it is an area with a lot of money they are used to rich people. I will be there next week, my husband and I are going to take our kids to England for the first time to Show them what we love about it. So we're very excited about that. But we won't get near Sonning - and I don't think I would - maybe I would go to the pub or have a stroll around the town but wouldn't try to catch a glimpse of his house or anything like that.

There have been so many rumors about George and Amal it's hard to sift through what's BS and what's not.
But like you said carolhathaway this one never seemed legitimate.

Hope your family have a jolly ole time in England.  I would at least be tempted to go to Sonning's Bull pub.  George loves it and he should know a thing or two about what makes a good pub!

Donnamarie wrote:Hope your family have a jolly ole time in England.  I would at least be tempted to go to Sonning's Bull pub.  George loves it and he should know a thing or two about what makes a good pub!

Thanks Donnamarie!
We'll see what we are going to do but since we'll be travelling by coach and will be with a group we'll have an organized programme  (it's a twinning visit) and no car. We are going to go to Oxford and London and when there's some free time we have to visit some places where the Harry Potter movies were shot because my kids are huge fans of the books and the movies. 

We are really looking forward to our visit.

carolhathaway....have a great time here in UK.
The weather is quite pleasant at the moment !

Joanna wrote:carolhathaway....have a great time here in UK.
The weather is quite pleasant at the moment !

Thanks Joanna!
Before I had children I used to go to Britain about once a year and now am sort of homesick since I haven't been there for eight years, just met Brits from our twintown when they came to visit. 
So I'm really looking forward to go there and to show my kids what I love about it and hope that they love it as much as I do...

The house is complete.

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Thanks annemarie. It looks stunning. Beautiful. Hope some day we will see more of this amazing home

With all the boats and cars around and the openness of the property - especially around the pool -I don't see them getting a lot of privacy here. And the place is almost completely exposed from the air - as the DM proves every time they do one of these pieces about the house.

Does anyone know if those other buildings are part of their property as well? It doesn't look like it, but if it isn't part of their property it is really close. I'm not surprised they're concerned about security. This property seems a lot less private than his home in LA. It even seems more exposed than the Lake Como house.

These pix are really misleading.

The grounds don't look finished at all. Empty borders, lack of tree cover. I think it still looks as tho they're recovering the place from the flooding and the garden's not sorted yet.

LIzzy, take a look at the Rexfeatures website for their pictures. It gives you a much better idea. And all along the garden paths which aren't shown here are low lights.

The island they're on has other private houses on it and the theatre restaurant and its car park as well as a boatyard.

Nope. This is not finished. And you cannot see a thing from the road. Pretty sure their security will cover drones too.......

I  think if they didn't feel it was private enough they wouldn't have purchased it. I think it is probably more private from the ground with the trees walls and bushes. I wonder if the daily fail used a drone to get those pictures.

I agree with annemarie. If George was concerned about privacy or security for this house and its location don't think he would have bought it. And the perspective from the ground is different than from the air.

Even if all the grounds work isn't done the property still looks beautiful. It's early spring and many of the trees don't have their foliage yet.

I love the look of the wooded house on the property.

I'm sure the view from the ground is much more protected. The view from the air, however, seems quite open. Unless they're planning to plant substantially around the pool, for example, they'll be completely exposed to aerial photos any time they use the pool or the yard (or garden). I don't think it's a security issue as much as it is an issue of privacy.

I can't make out where the trades mans entrance is.....always handy to know...in case you have fried chicken in your handbag....Ahem...