A successful couple are in hot water with neighbours over plans to build an indoor pool with a bar in their front garden – amid fears it will become a ‘party house’

Thomas and Eleanor Flood became embroiled in a planning row over a proposed 38ft-long pool house at their £1.3 million seaside property in Stubbington, Hampshire.

Neighbours of the couple have complained the new outhouse – which will contain a pool, sauna and bar – will disturb the peace in their picturesque cul-de-sac. 

They claim that installing a bar will lead to it becoming a ‘party house’ with ‘weekend pool parties’.

Businessman Mr Flood, 35, and his wife moved to the road in 2021 and ripped down the existing home to build a huge new property, before starting their pool house project.

Neighbours were already unhappy with the size of the ‘imposing’ new home and even nicknamed it the ‘cow shed’ due to its striking grey cladding.

They have accused the Floods of having ‘no thought of how it overlooks to other people’ after lodging plans to build the pool house.

Some questioned why they didn’t build it in their back garden, which offers stunning sea views of the Solent.

The Floods complied with all planning rules and the council signed off on them building a 38ft-long, 17ft-tall outbuilding in their front garden.

The pool house will be complete with a built-in television, sauna and a bar with stools.

But the architect who designed the pool house said Mr Flood and his wife only want a pool house for their young family and are not interested in hosting parties.

Designs have been drawn up of the pool house, which will include a sauna and a bar

Neighbours fear the pool house in the front garden will be used to host parties

Mr Flood is the managing director of two logistics businesses, Acclaim Logistics and First 4 Logistics.

After they put forward plans for a pool house, six neighbours lodged online complaints to Fareham Borough Council about the outbuilding.

No neighbours turned up to a council planning committee meeting and the committee unanimously decided to approve the proposal.

Speaking at her home, neighbour Dixie Stypulkowski said: ‘It’s going to be near the edge of the boundary with the road, so these black sides on two sides, which are the sides that people walking past see, it seems to me there’s been no thought of how it overlooks to other people and it’s very tall, that’s what I think.

‘My husband thinks it looks like an industrial building, and I don’t think that was an unreasonable thing to say.’

She said of the house: ‘People say it’s modern.

‘This is the seaside – it’s supposed to be light, supposed to reflect seaside colours.’

Another neighbour living on the cul-de-sac, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘People live in a relatively peaceful, quiet area, we’re just worried about weekend pool parties and things like that.’

One neighbour, who lives opposite the Floods and wanted to remain anonymous, said: ‘I think it was the fact that it’s a pool and a bar, it’s not just going to be for kids.’

Mandy Turner, who lives next door to the Floods, said: ‘It’s just going to be more of this, it’s built in some material which on this side, it’s like a warehouse.

‘They have put a nice fence up.’

Mrs Turner’s husband, Peter Turner, said: ‘I’m a great believer in live and let live, and I don’t believe in unnecessary complaining.’

The 78-year-old said it did ‘bother’ the couple, who live in a bungalow, when the Floods’ house was extended.

The retired agricultural consultant is hoping for an invitation for his grandson, who is a similar age to the Flood’s children, to make use of the pool.

One retiree said she wasn’t happy with the size of the house already.

‘When’s it going to stop?’, the retiree said. ‘How big is too big?

‘It just takes over the whole road.

‘This house isn’t recognisable to what it now is, but we didn’t go over the top with size.

‘We’re now going to have a pool house to contend with.’

The pool house is due to be built in the front garden of the property

Neighbours fear the outhouse – which will be built in the area marked in red – will be used to host parties and disturb the peace

The pool house is expected to be built next year after it received approval from the council

The retired woman said she and her husband have nicknamed the house the ‘cow shed’.

Her husband said: ‘Sometimes in design, too much money and no idea is a recipe for disaster.

‘It’s not cheap, when you consider the property they bought there, how much that was.’

He added that the new house was ‘imposing’, and questioned why the pool had been put in the front garden.

‘Why wouldn’t you put that at the back?’ he said.

Another neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, said: ‘As I can tell, it’s a quiet cul-de-sac, there’s also properties in the area that have been upgraded and they turn into a bit of a party house.

‘When I look at the planning – swimming pool, bar – I’m a bit concerned we’re going to get that vibe here.’

He also worried about an increase in the number of vehicles coming to the property.

The neighbour said: ‘Being a swimming pool and a bar and stuff, if you have visitors, where are they going to park?’

The Floods did not wish to comment on the row, but the architect who designed both their home and the pool house, James Potter, said on their behalf: ‘The whole thing has been built around the children.’

‘They really are the opposite of a party couple’, Mr Potter said. ‘This is so Tom can swim and the family can play in there.’

Mr Potter said ‘in hindsight’ it should not have been called a ‘bar’ but a ‘kitchenette’.

He said: ‘The housing of the pool house keeps the noise levels to a minimum, instead of having an open pool which could have been submitted as permitted development which would have been far louder.

‘The neighbours complained online to take this to a committee meeting, and then didn’t show up to the committee meeting to speak and give their thoughts on why this should be refused.

‘The suggestion that this is to be used as a party house is laughable, the applicants are a young family and all the discussions around the pool house with my clients have been around things such as “the climbing wall and hanging hoops” for the children.

‘The naming of the “bar” has been jumped on, and if the neighbours had the decency to call us as the architect and builders on the scheme, we would have been able to confirm to them that this was in fact a “kitchenette” to house a possible sink and a fridge for drinks so the family didn’t have to go back into the house for the kitchen.

‘The naming of the word “bar” is not enough to warrant the noise this has created.’

The pool house is expected to be built next year.