A couple are being sued by their neighbours over plans to demolish their four-bedroom £1.5million home to make way for two new houses.
Emma and Terence McGuinness are in a bitter court battle and have claimed to be "shunned and ostracised" and frozen out of the local wine society in Oxshott, Surrey, by well-to-do "nimby" neighbours.
Figure skater turned yoga teacher Mrs McGuinness, 41, and her husband, 45, a boss at a catering company, say they want to create a second home alongside their house so they can take care of her poorly father.
The couple claim the dispute has divided their community where homes can sell for more than £2m. They say they've "lost touch" with some of their community and Mrs McGuinness is no longer taking part in the "wine society" chats or summer picnics.
Emma McGuinness outside Central London County Court
Terence McGuinness outside Central London County CourtThe couple is being sued by the owner of the private roads accessing the estate - Ridgeway (Oxshott) Management Ltd - which is seeking an injunction banning them from using their roads to carry out the build.
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The company - whose directors and shareholders are made up of neighbours on the estate - says conditions of sale and access rights restrict owners to "one plot one house" and that a two-house building project would cause too much disruption. Mr and Mrs McGuinness want the case against them thrown out and are now awaiting judgment after a trial at the Central London County Court.
Judge Simon Monty heard the couple already have planning permission to level their existing four-bed family home - which is valued online at around £1.5m - and substitute two new homes. They say their plans are not about making money, but to ensure that Mrs McGuinness' frail father can live beside them, where they can look after him.
The Ridgeway, private housing estate at centre of court row over building workBarrister Miriam Seitler, who is representing the residents' company, told the court that the road chaos coming from the building would shatter the calm of the quiet estate.
She said: "The disruption and damage to be caused in the short term is significant: the construction period for two dwellings will be substantially longer and more intensive than for one. The experts agree that one house could be built in 12 months, whereas the proposed development would take 21 months.
"Our factual witnesses detail how disruptive construction work on the Ridgeway has been - and will be - to residents due to the layout and nature of the estate. This will be heightened in the case of Birch Mead due to its particular location on the estate."
Emma McGuinness is a yoga teacherGiving evidence, Mr McGuinness said he and his family had "lost touch with people" due to discord over their plans. However, Ms Seitler said socialising had been curtailed in recent years because of Covid-19. She added that the couple had been invited to both Platinum Jubilee and Coronation street parties.
Mr McGuinness agreed they had gone to both events, explaining in relation to the Jubilee party: "We made a point of wanting to go because I don't think this is a personal issue and we wanted to be there because we felt we should be. But all that day, I was watching to make sure that Emma wasn't on her own - and it wasn't what it should have been."
The barrister said that no one had stopped the couple socialising, but Mr McGuinness replied: "What I'm talking about is things like Emma no longer being part of the wine society and not mixing like she did - not having conversations at the gate and not having summer picnics with people.
Emma McGuinness claims she was shunned from the wine society in her community"That's the real relationship which has stopped and that's because of the way that this has been handled." He added: "Certainly we felt ostracised. The last two years have been extremely difficult for us."
For the couple, barrister George Woodhead highlighted construction projects carried out by other residents, with most of the 47 houses on the estate "extended, rebuilt or improved" at some point.
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He said: "There is a strong sense of 'nimbyism,' 'pulling up the ladder' and hypocrisy to the position adopted by some members of the company." He added: "Not all members of the company are opposed to the proposed works."
He continued: "For them, this is less about making money and more about living in close proximity to Mrs McGuinness' father, who is unwell and wishes to be very near to his family.
"Their children are at school and engage in local activities. The family is embedded in the local community, such that moving house is undesirable. Their motives for the development are commendable: their focus is on family, not money."
He said the plot has an "unusually large frontage" and is well placed on the estate in terms of lorry access so that any road obstruction would be short-lived.
They had also offered compensation for any damage done, he said, while the works would only take place between 8am and 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays.
If it fails to get an injunction banning the use of the access roads for the project, she asked the judge to award £80,000 in compensation from Mr and Mrs McGuinness. Following a week in court, Judge Simon Monty reserved his decision in the case, which has already racked up "tens of thousands" in lawyers' bills.
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