Billie Faiers and her husband Greg Shepherd have finally received planning permission to begin building their £1.4 million Essex dream home.
The couple celebrated the milestone as they toasted their glasses of wine in an Instagram post on Friday, after facing setbacks from neighbours to convert their run down 1920s property into a five-bedroom luxury family home.
Billie confirmed on Thursday that she had kicked off renovations on her dream home in an exclusive interview with MailOnline, despite claims that neighbours had deemed the plans ‘too grand.’
At last! Billie Faiers and her husband Greg Shepherd have finally received planning permission to begin building their £1.4 million Essex dream home
Sharing a snap of their champagne glasses, along with plans for their dream home, Billie penned the caption: ‘Planning Permission Approved.
‘It’s a VERY happy Friday in the Shepherd house … we finally got our planning Permission for our new house and we are soooooo excited ��❤️����
Let the @homewiththesheps journey begin.’
Drama: The couple celebrated the milestone as they toasted wine in an Instagram post on Friday, after facing setbacks from neighbours
Over the moon: Both Billie and Greg celebrated receiving planning permission after a ‘nine month wait’
Clearly as thrilled as his wife that they’d finally been given permission to start the epic transformation, Greg shared the same snap with the caption: ‘So after 9 long months of waiting we have finally got our planning permission approved.’
On Tuesday Billie exclusively told MailOnline that she and Greg had begun works on their dream home, which they purchased in January.
She said: ‘We’re so pleased and finally got there in the end.
‘They’ve estimated it’ll take a year to complete the renovations, which is very long time but we all know how quick time goes nowadays. We’re living in our current home in the moment and stay here until the work is done.’
Home: Billie and Greg bought a run down £1.4 million 1920s property in Brentwood and submitted plans to turn it into a five-bedroom home over a year-and-a-half-long project
The TV stars will demolish the existing garage and conservatory to build a two-storey side extension and a single-storey rear extension.
The abode will also be complete with an in-and-out driveway along with a single-storey front extension and landscape work.
It had been reported last week that Greg and Billie finally received official permission from Brentwood Borough Council to convert their property into a five-bedroom luxury family home after making a number of changes and compromises.
The official notice stated that ‘in pursuance of the powers conferred on them’ the couple would be permitted to carry out specific work.
According to The Sun, this would allow them to demolish the existing garage to build a two-storey side extension.
Additionally, they would be able to demolish the existing conservatory in order to build a single-storey rear extension.
The luxury mansion would also be complete with an in-and-out driveway along with a single-storey front extension and landscape work.
MailOnline has contacted Billie and Greg’s representative for comment.
Potential: A large living space with French doors looking out into the garden also boasts a stunning Parquet flooring, however it remains to be seen which features will remain
It comes after The Mummy Diaries stars, who are parents to six-year-old Nelly and Arthur, three, have been battling with neighbours for months over their renovations plans.
However, after reducing the building by a matter of centimetres, renovations were given the green light.
Among the changes that were in the revised plan were to make the height of the planned extension 50 centimetres lower and to ensure their home is further from their neighbours.
In their latest submission, Billie and Greg are quoted as saying: ‘The planning officer confirmed that these now overcome the reasons for refusal on the original application. They therefore recommended that a revised application be submitted.’
MailOnline contacted a representative for Billie for comment at the time.
In a previous rejection response from the council officer’s report it was written of the potential house: ‘It would be the biggest house on the street and the increase in size from the original home would not be acceptable.’
Peachy keen: The Shepherds’ new family home also includes at least two large bathrooms, one of which has peach patterned tiles and a white suite
Work to be done: Plans submitted to Brentwood Borough council include five bedrooms, dressing room, a study, lounge and a kitchen diner
The reports also had concerns about whether the home would be sympathetic to the local area.
The decision notice stated: ‘The proposed extensions when combined would create a development which is excessive in terms of bulk, size, massing, roof design and siting, resulting in overly dominant additions to the existing dwelling and a substantial building out of character and appearance within its context.
‘It would unacceptably reduce the spatial quality between properties which is characteristic of the area, to the detriment of local visual amenity.’
‘Old and dated’: The Mummy Diaries star has previously admitted the interior of the sprawling house is ‘old and dated’ and says she wants to give it a glitzy revamp
It’s been claimed the previous owners were granted permission to build two houses on the land, yet still, the plans for one large home were initially turned down.
The neighbours had expressed concern that the property would be too close to theirs and affect their privacy.
The Mummy Diaries star Billie previously admitted that the interior of the sprawling house is ‘old and dated’ and estimated that it will take the pair around a year to completely renovate it.
Wow! One of the bathrooms featured carpeted flooring, floral tiles and an avocado suite
The couple revealed that they wanted to start off their journey by showing their followers a look at their current ‘old and dated’ kitchen on their home Instagram ‘homewiththesheps’.
They said they have planned to change the layout of some of the house, to make way for a kitchen extension which will become a kitchen/dining area/soft area, complete with adjoining play room and utility.
Billie and Greg penned: ‘Hello To all of our new followers❤️ …. Thank you for following us as we begin our new home renovation journey.
Now: Billie previously shared a collection of snaps to the couple’s property renovation Instagram account called ‘homewiththesheps’ (current kitchen pictured)
Stunning: Billie and Greg also posted some inspiration snaps from Jonathan Williams Kitchens
‘I thought I would start off by showing you the kitchen… the Hub of the home to us as a family.
‘As you can see the kitchen in its current state is very old and dated … we are going to be completely changing this layout as we are extending across the back of the house to create a much bigger space.
‘Which will become a kitchen / dining area / sofa area (all open plan) with a play room separately at one end and utility room at the other end.
Details: Their vision includes white cabinets, marble counters and gold handles
‘I’ve attached some kitchen design Inspiration images from @jonathanwilliamskitchens to give you an idea of the kitchen style we love ❤️ #newhome #renovation #kitchendesign #kitchendecor #homedecor #inspiration.’ (sic).
Talking to HELLO!, she said: ‘We got the keys at the end of January but it’s a huge project, a big renovation. We are going in blind because we’ve never done it before and we are starting from scratch.
‘The architect has been in and for what we want to do, it’s going to be at least a year or a year and a half until it is safe for us to live in, so we are going to stay where we are for now.’
Plans: Billie and Greg penned: ‘Hello To all of our new followers❤️ …. Thank you for following us as we begin our new home renovation journey