Millionaire loses bid to turn £8m seaside mansion into luxury block of flats after neighbours warned it would open floodgates for Airbnbs and second homes in their exclusive estate

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By AIDAN RADNEDGE, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER 16:29 12 Oct 2026, updated 17:19 12 Oct 2026

A millionaire has lost a bid to turn his £8million seaside mansion into a luxury block of flats after neighbours warned about a knock-on flurry of Airbnbs and second homes.

Property developer John Yeoman and wife Deborah have been submitting planning applications for their 20-year-old home on the upmarket Elms Estate in Poole, Dorset.

But there has been opposition from neighbours including Jeremy Gardner over the proposals to provide the first ever flats on the harbourside estate.

Mr Yeoman had made multiple attempts to get planning permission to knock down his home and replace it with a larger one.

When finally given consent earlier this year, he submitted another application to turn that approved building into four luxury apartments.

The local neighbourhood is characterised by large family houses in generous plots and is meant to be protected by a legal covenant against building multiple homes on a single site.

Neighbours feared if Mr Yeoman won it would open the floodgates for more flats being built and the area would become full of second homes and Airbnbs – likened to nearby Sandbanks.

Despite receiving 69 letters of objection, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council officers recommended granting the scheme permission – but planning committee members have now voted against it.

Mr Gardner spoke on behalf of objecting neighbours and said the flats, which he suggested would be second homes, would damage the community.

He added that without proper garden space the owners or tenants would use their balconies far more than one family home, resulting in overlooking and loss of privacy for the neighbours.

He said: ‘There are no flats here – pretty much everyone lives there full time and there is a real sense of community.

‘You might be wondering why so many people have objected.

‘We believe that, in time, a change from houses to flats on the waterfront there will cause real harm to our community.

‘It will radically change the nature and character of the place we live.

‘If this application is approved, the multi-million-pound flats are almost certainly going to be bought as second homes who aren’t really going to contribute to the community.

‘They won’t support local jobs and businesses.

‘This increased density is a real concern for the next door neighbours. There is no outside amenity space at all at the front. The only usable outside amenity space the people living in those flats will have is their balconies, that’s very significant.

‘The change from one family home to four flats does worsen the overlooking, noise and loss of privacy.

‘Good family homes will be torn down and replaced with blocks of flats, we have already seen this happen on Evening Hill and Sandbanks.

‘Our community does not want this to happen here. It should be absolutely clear the nature and character of the area will be seriously harmed.’

Councillor Marion Le Poidevin said she did not believe the flats would be family homes and if families did move in, there would be no amenity space for children to play.

She said she also understood concerns about second homes, though said they had no legal means of restricting use as holiday homes.

Councillor Brian Hitchcock said: ‘I think we all know this is not going to be a first home. They are going to be well over a million pounds.

‘Someone with over a million pounds and four children is not going to live there full time – they will come down for the weekend to go boating or something.’

The BCP Council planning committee voted five to one in favour of refusal, stating it would harm the character of the area and poor quality of amenity space in the garden.

When the 50-acre estate was established in the 1920s, it was made up of 150 individually designed family homes on large plots.

Legal covenants were established that made it a rule of only one home per plot to prevent the harbourside location being developed on.

Over the years, the boundaries of the binding agreement have been pushed with some of the original homes being demolished and replaced with bigger super-homes.

Mr Gardner, who owned a lucrative consultancy firm, said after the meeting: ‘I’m glad the council listened and heard that it was overwhelming it would radically change the character of the area.

‘None of us are against development or blocks of flats, just where they would be appropriate.’

The Yeomans’ planning consultant declined to comment but it is expected they will appeal against the decision or reapply.

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