Millionaire forced to axe plans to chop down trees to save two-mile journey to stables

A millionaire supermarket owner has had plans to cut down protected trees to create a shortcut at his home rejected.

Chris Kiley - owner of supermarket chain CK Foodstore - wanted to chop down woodland and lay a road through the nature reserve surrounding his house so he could reach his stables more quickly.

However, more than 150 objections were filed and Swansea Council denied permission for the plans, which would have seen a 98-metre track link Kiley's home with a smallholding where he keeps horses.

Council officers said there could be no reasonable justification for the move following local backlash.

Kiley, 67, bought the £2.5m home with his now ex-wife Alice, 32, a former Miss Great Britain entrant who appeared on Masterchef in 2013.

The application statement said 12 ‘small to medium’ trees would be felled for the track – but Kiley had promised to replace them.

The application read: "Access tracks are common features in countryside locations such as this and the development is considered a modest addition which will have an acceptable impact on the wider Gower AONB [area of outstanding natural beauty]."

Kiley said he wanted the track to cut down the current two-mile car journey from his home to the stables.

The house overlooks Caswell Bay on the Gower Peninsula, which was designated the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The status makes winning planning approval much harder.

Among the 154 objections received was one from Bishopston Community Council, which said the track was not needed as there was already a path running alongside it.

The group also branded the plans ‘environmentally unacceptable’ because of the damage to trees and wildlife.

Preservation group The Gower Society also objected saying the proposals had a "possible undesirable impact upon the AONB and the prominent coastal slope".

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Swansea Council rejected Kiley's bid saying the planned track had "excessive width" and would harm the rural character of the site.

It said that because of the existing path it could not grant permission because "no reasonable justification or need" had been shown.

Kiley intended to demolish the house to build a modern Grand Designs-style home in its ground.

He had argued the home would fit "seamlessly" into the character of the seafront.

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