LEGENDARY director Richard Curtis has become entangled in a dispute over plans to build a campsite in his wealthy coastal village.
The 69-year-old has opposed plans to add 30 pitches in the Suffolk village of his second home, warning they could “wreck” the “remarkable” area, according to the Mail.
Richard and his partner, broadcaster Emma Freud, penned a letter to East Suffolk Council in which they stated they objected to the proposals in the “strongest terms”.
Walberswick, the affluent coastal town, is popular among A-listers, including fellow Love Actually star, Keira Knightley.
The celeb couple said they find the new development “so worrying” because it would “change the nature of the village in the summer months.”
They said: “It would put pressure on services, increase traffic, and upset the natural balance that makes Walberswick function as it does
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“Walberswick works because it’s quiet, natural, and low-key, and because people respect its limits.
“This plan risks throwing all of that out. Even if it’s temporary, the impact could be lasting.”
Walberswick is a picturesque, quiet seaside village on the unspoilt Suffolk coast, located close to Southwold, the town that earned itself the nickname Chelsea-On-Sea.
The couple, who married in 2023 after 33 years together, have their main home in West London’s affluent Notting Hill, but say they feel “amazingly lucky” to have a second home in Walberswick.
The plans for the campsite were put forward by landowner Sir Charles Blois, who describes them as a “modest venture.”
The application was submitted to the local authority in March and approved in November, despite over 100 objections from local residents.
East Suffolk Council wrote in its approval document: “As local planning authority hereby give notice that prior approval is required and hereby granted for the above development proposed in your application and plan(s) attached thereto.
“This means that the proposal is permitted development and does not require planning permission.”
Richard and Emma’s semi-detached seaside home has been in Freud’s family since the 1930s after they fled the Nazis.
The 63-year-old often writes and speaks about her love for the area, where her relatives have roots going back decades.
It is believed to be where Curtis wrote some of his best known films.
Curtis is also believed to own a former fisherman’s shack overlooking the beach and windswept marshland on the outskirts of Walberswick.
Others who have had holiday homes in the village in recent years include Men Behaving Badly actress Caroline Quentin, BBC Radio Five presenter Simon Mayo and actress Sharon Duce.
Rom-com legend, Curtis, is famed for writing classics including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary.
In 2022, the couple faced another blow when a destructive fire tore through their 18th-century home in Walberswick.
Shortly after the blaze, Freud took to Instagram to post: “Has been a grim few days. Electrical fault caused a fire at our home.
“A total of 60 incredible Suffolk firemen worked for eight hours and we are safe.”
