Following months of pushback from environmental experts and residents over construction noise and light pollution, Cate Blanchett has officially won approval for her cliffside landscaping plans in Cornwall after agreeing to bat-friendly design changes. Two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett and her husband, playwright Andrew Upton, bought the property in 2020 and soon applied for a permit to create their own ecotourism garden. After facing backlash and pushback from locals, the council officially granted the star permission to build her garden.
In 2020, Cate Blanchett bought the Cornwall property
Cate bought the space with her husband, Andrew Upton, in 2020 for GBP 1.6 million. The stone cottage, called Bobtails (or Bob Tails), sits in the seaside village of Mawgan Porth. The original property was completely different, and the couple soon after applied for a permit to demolish the building and set up their own five-bedroom eco-home in its place. The permission was granted in 2022.
Locals and neighbours oppose Cate Blanchett’s building plans
Residents previously voiced formal complaints regarding heavy machinery, drilling, and ongoing noise pollution during the house build, claiming that the works disrupted quiet holiday periods in the bay. Architects Watershed maintained regular communication with neighbours throughout construction and suggested some reported disruption originated from separate developments nearby.There were also allegations of encroachment against the actress and her husband. Locals raised an alarm over proposals involving an adjoining meadow, alleging an attempt to encroach onto environmentally sensitive coastal land. Concerns focused on potential visual impact and habitat loss. Following community pushback, the couple formally withdrew the separate meadow planning application in June 2024.
Cate Blanchett scores approval for her eco-friendly luxury garden
The couple applied for a new permit in January this year. The couple submitted an application to Cornwall Council to discharge the landscaping, lighting, and shutter conditions from their original 2022 rebuild permit. However, ecological experts warned that the planned outdoor lighting would disturb local foraging bats, forcing the withdrawal of this initial proposal.In May, a revision was submitted. The couple submitted a new, “bat-friendly” garden design that included downward-pointing, low-level warm white LED path lights to satisfy the environmental requirements. They finally got their approval in July this year. The revised eco-garden plans included a grass driveway, Cornish granite steps, hardwood decking, and the mass planting of native coastal greenery.
More about the approved landscaping plans
The Evening Standard reported that the clifftop residence’s revised plan includes a green sedum roof and ground-source heat pumps, based entirely on a green and eco-friendly design. Some of the other eco-friendly elements of the home also include bat boxes and heavily regulated, downward-facing low-level lighting, which was reduced to 300mm path lights to protect the local foraging bat populations. It also features a grass driveway stabilised with greenstone pavers, along with hardwood decking, Cornish granite, and Corten steps. She also had many local plants set up on the property grounds, which include sea thrift and olearia bushes, as well as scattered Cornish boulders.
