Beatle widow in new razor wire row
THE widow of Beatle George Harrison has once again applied to re-fence a boundary of her Henley home with razor wire.
It is the second attempt in three years by Olivia Harrison to renew part of the 2m high fence at Friar Park to deter trespassers.
Her last application in 2009 led to opposition from neighbours, including actor Rodney Bewes, who lives in nearby Hop Gardens.
It was approved by South Oxfordshire District Council but then Mrs Harrison re-fenced the 1,000 yard section without using razor wire.
The latest application, which involves a 300 yard section of fence, was recommended for refusal by members of Henley Town Council’s planning committee on Tuesday.
Brian Tickle, whose garden backs on to the grounds of the Gravel Hill mansion, told councillors he objected “in the strongest possible terms”.
He said: “We’ve lived with this overbearing fence in our garden and it meets all of her security needs.
“It’s a complete eyesore and is designed to be intimidating and aggressive. The effect on us is horrible.
“Nothing has changed in the last three years to warrant razor wire. I can’t think of a more unneighbourly act than putting up razor wire, particularly when our garden is used by so many children.
“It would only take one child to climb a tree and slip and there would be the most indescribable horror.”
Mrs Harrison originally erected the fence after a man broke into the couple’s home in 1999 and stabbed her husband.
Councillor Lorraine Hillier said she was “sympathetic” to the latest application, saying that there had been trespassers at the �20million home in the past year.
But she suggested the use of alternative security measures, including a rotating anti-climb guard. Committee chairman Dieter Hinke said he recognised the security breaches Mrs Harrison had suffered in the past but said razor wire was “barbaric”.
“I’m sure there are better ways to put a security system around a house,” he said.
Cllr Martin Akehurst said: “It should be made a guideline that razor wire has no place whatsoever in a rural town. It’s dangerous to domestic pets, wildlife and children.”
When the 2009 application was made, Mr Bewes claimed his cat Maurice had almost died after severing an artery on the old razor wire.
The 74-year-old star of Seventies sitcom The Likely Lads said: “There are several other people’s pets that have been practically gored on that fence — it’s dangerous.”
He was supported by the town council, which declared the fence “unneighbourly, inappropriate and detrimental to the character of the conservation area”.
The district council said the fence was “acceptable in terms of its relationship to the character and setting of the existing listed building and its site and in terms of the impact on the surrounding conservation area”.
The same authority will have the final decision on the latest application.
