Simon Cowell applies to chop down eight trees at new £15m mansion in exclusive Wimbledon neighbourhood – just weeks after saying they are ‘vital for the environment’ in eco-campaign
- The talent show tycoon sought to burnish his green credentials last month
- However the 60-year-old has opened himself up to accusations of hypocrisy
- He wants to fell a horse chestnut, quercus ilex, hornbeam and five magnolia
Simon Cowell is planning to chop down eight trees at his £15million mansion just weeks after fronting an eco-drive urging people to plant more.
The talent show tycoon sought to burnish his green credentials last month by banging the drum for more trees, hailing them as ‘vitally important’.
However the 60-year-old has opened himself up to accusations of hypocrisy after seeking permission to take an axe to eight trunks in his own garden – a conservation area.
Cowell this year uprooted from the celebrity enclave of Holland Park and moved into a seven-bed property in leafy Wimbledon, southwest London, with his girlfriend Lauren Silverman, 42, and five-year-old son Eric.
Simon Cowell is planning to chop down eight trees at his £15million mansion just weeks after fronting an eco-drive to plant more
Cowell this year uprooted from the celebrity enclave of Holland Park and moved into a seven-bed property (pictured) in leafy Wimbledon, southwest London, with his girlfriend Lauren Silverman, 42, and five-year-old son Eric
The grand redbrick mansion, concealed behind a high hedgerow, appears the perfect family home, but Cowell is unhappy with some of the horticulture.
So on December 9 he lodged a request to Merton Council to fell a horse chestnut, quercus ilex, hornbeam and five magnolia grandiflora shrubs.
The revelation could be seen to undermine the photoshoot he did in November where he planted a Rowan shrub in his garden as part of a Daily Mirror environmentalist campaign.
Pictured with a spade in one hand and the plant in the other, Mr Cowell said: ‘This one tree is not going to save the world but the campaign is going to make a difference.
‘What trees do for the environment is vitally important.’ in the garden of his mansion.
Cowell and girlfriend Silverman (right) purchased the new mansion in Wimbledon, south London – a stones thrown from the All England Club – last October. The couple reportedly drew up a list of top schools that Eric (middle) could start at, after deciding that he will be educated in the UK rather than in the United States (family pictured in Barbados)
A source said: ‘It’s one thing to say that we need more trees to save the planet but another to actually chop them down.
‘In this case, more are being cut down than are being planted so carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere and impacting on climate change.’
Cowell and girlfriend Silverman purchased the new mansion in Wimbledon, south London – a stones thrown from the All England Club – last October.
The couple reportedly drew up a list of top schools that Eric could start at, after deciding that he will be educated in the UK rather than in the United States.
The purchase of the property is just a small chunk of Cowell’s total wealth of £400million, at a modest £15.25m, according to land registry records.
He leaves behind neighbours such as Elton John and The Beckhams after moving out of his old house, in Holland Park, west London.
Simon Cowell has been approached for comment.