Rowan Atkinson free to build 'petrol-station home' with council permission

Rowan Atkinson has been given permission to build his ultra-modern 'petrol-station home' despite protests from neighbours.

The Blackadder and Mr Bean star will demolish a 1930s country house and replace it with a new glass and bright white steel five-bedroomed design.

Councillors ignored expert advice to refuse the plans while residents branded the home ‘out of place’.

But Atkinson, 55, said his neighbours ‘need have no fears’.

He added: ‘I don’t want to live in a house that is weird or futuristic.’

The actor enlisted top architect Richard Meier to design the home on 25.7ha (65acres) near Ipsden in south Oxfordshire.