Sheikh of Dubai’s 6ft-high ‘prison-style’ fence slammed by angry neighbours

Neighbours accuse billionaire Dubai ruler of showing ‘cynical disregard’ for planning rules by ‘erecting a 6ft-high ‘prison-style’ fence around his £75m Surrey estate without permission’

  • The Sheikh of Dubai recently installed the fence around his Longcross in Surrey 
  • Estate is just part of the large property portfolio owned by Sheikh Mohammed 
  • The 69-year-old is believed to have a personal fortune in excess of £9 billion 

Neighbours of a billionaire Dubai ruler have accused him of showing a ‘cynical disregard’ for planning rules by erecting a 6ft-high ‘prison-style’ fence around his £75m Surrey estate without asking for permission.     

The Sheikh of Dubai was slammed for the ‘inappropriate’ fence, which neighbours claim blocks wildlife corridors between Chobham Common and the previously-open estate.   

It is understood that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum intends to apply for retrospective planning permission.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (pictured at Newmarket Racecourse) is reportedly intending to apply for retrospective planning permission

However, one neighbour – who asked not to be named – said it was ‘highly puzzling’ that he did not apply for prior permission and called for the fences to be removed ‘immediately’ to ‘mitigate the damage to wildlife’.

The Longcross estate is just part of the large property portfolio owned by Sheikh Mohammed, who is both vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and is believed to have a personal fortune in excess of £9 billion.

Prior to the construction of the fence, the estate’s boundary was marked by a lower, wooden fence posts or, in some places, no fence at all.

Although landowners are normally allowed to erect fences on their property, Sheikh Mohammed’s land is covered by an Article 4 Declaration, meaning even minor changes must receive permission from the council.

Security at the estate was already tight, with perimeter guards, CCTV and an inner security fence, but in 2000 even these precautions were unable to prevent one of the Sheikh’s daughters, Shiekha Shamsa al-Maktoum, from escaping the estate onto Chobham Common.

The "prison-style" fence erected without planning permission at the edge of the Sheikh's Longcross estate

The ‘prison-style’ fence erected without planning permission at the edge of the Sheikh’s Longcross estate

Sheikha Shamsa, then 19, has not been seen since fleeing the Longcross estate, but is believed to have been tracked down in Cambridge several weeks later and abducted by her father’s men before being returned to Dubai.

One of her younger sisters, Sheikha Latifa, claimed in March 2018 that Sheikha Shamsa was being kept in a drugged state in the Zabeel Palace in Dubai and was ‘like a zombie’.

Sheikha Latifa, 33, made the claim in a video that she sent to human rights organisation Detained in Dubai before attempting to escape her father herself.

Her escape attempt, the subject of a BBC2 documentary aired on December 6, was thwarted when the boat she was travelling on was intercepted in the

Indian Ocean by UAE and Indian naval vessels. She has not been seen since, but her family claim she is ‘safe’ in Dubai.

Neither Runnymede Borough Council nor the Government of Dubai responded to requests for comment regarding the fence at Longcross.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk