Soho House billionaire Ron Burkle Angers English locals with mansion plan

• Ron Burkle, the billionaire director of Soho House, wants to build a mansion in the south of England.
• But local residents have lodged more than 30 objections to the plan.
• One said the proposed development was “better suited to Disneyland”.

An American billionaire’s plan to build a house in the English countryside is not going down well with local residents, one of whom said it was “better suited to Disneyland”.

Another called it “grotesque.”

Burkle, who is worth $3.2 billion, founded the investment firm The Yucaipa Companies nearly four decades ago. Since then, he has made several notable deals, including in 2012 when he acquired a majority stake in Soho House, a members-only social club with properties around the world.

New details of Ron Burkle’s proposal to build a sprawling house in Little Tew, a village of fewer than 500 people, were handed to West Oxfordshire District Council in August. Burkle’s proposed home would be next to Soho Farmhouse, a rural outpost of the members-only chain.

However, Burkle is finding it difficult to get approval for his country house from officials in West Oxfordshire.

He initially submitted plans for the development to the council in 2022. But the council rejected the proposal as it did not meet certain planning criteria and “would fail to represent a truly outstanding development”. His team attended review meetings in 2023 and 2024 before resubmitting the latest revisions.

Burkle’s development plan includes a new lake and the installation of solar panels

Planning documents seen by Business Insider say Burkle’s home design was inspired by the “English Baroque style.”

The development would include several new amenities, including a stable yard, new highway access, solar panels, a swimming pool, lake, tree nursery and other landscaping.

The house would be on a 90 acre block of land in Little Tew.

A West Oxfordshire District Council representative declined to comment as the application is still being assessed. A representative for Burkle did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

The residents of Little Tew are not happy

Since September, local residents have submitted more than 30 objections to the council about the proposed development. Instead, only two comments were submitted in support.

Many residents said Burkle’s design proposal conflicted with local aesthetics and did not comply with local planning policies.

“It’s as if someone set out to write a modern opera in the classical manner and did so by writing each aria in the style of a different classical composer, covering musicians from Monteverdi to Mascagni through Mozart,” he said in – an objection. “The result, as here, would be a mixture of combined dissonances.”

Another objection said the development would be “better suited to Disneyland”, citing potential risks to the local ecology, light pollution and increased traffic.

“Creating an artificial lake in an elevated area not associated with bodies of water is a vanity project,” one person wrote.

One resident called the proposed size of the house “grotesque” and said Burkle’s country home would “contrast a lot with the landscape and the cottages on the edge of the village”.

Little Tew’s board told BI that during a recent “well-attended” meeting, there was a unanimous vote in favor of objecting to Burkle’s request.

A document submitted to West Oxfordshire District Council by Little Tew’s council said members opposed the proposal “on the grounds that it remains an unjustified, unsustainable and inappropriate development which contravenes the policies of the West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2031 and the National Plan. Planning Policy Framework 2023.”

“In summary, this development does nothing for the local area or its residents, but has the potential to cause irreversible damage to the extensive flora and fauna and the conservation area in which they thrive,” the document said.