Aaron Taylor
Complex overlapping bureaucracy sometimes lacks the funds and skills to do it right
The actor who is expected to be the next James Bond and his director wife are seeking retrospective planning permission for a lake they excavated on their country estate after work was shut down last year.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and his wife, Sam, upset villagers when they started work on rewilding the grounds of their home in the Mendip Hills in Somerset.
At the centre of the project is the huge lake, which has already been excavated.
But the Grade II-listed property is in a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the Taylor-Johnsons should have first obtained planning permission.
When the local council found out about the work, officials visited the property, which used to be owned by the Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, and shut down the operation.
That was more than a year ago and since then the circular muddy crater, which is one acre in size, has been left as a blot on the protected landscape.
