Celebrity couple Ade Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders are facing a fresh planning battle over a £250,000 extension to their historic, Grade II listed Dartmoor home.

The ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ and ‘Bottom’ stars bought their £2 million country retreat 30 years ago to enjoy rural life. The pair, who currently split time between a London townhouse and their Devon home, eventually plan to live in the south west full-time.

Last year, they were granted planning permission, subject to adhering to several conditions, to carry out a range of landscaping and construction works to the property to better suit their needs and lifestyles. These works include creating a new entrance and parking area, extending a workshop, adding a terrace, replacing a window, building a new garden pavilion and installing air source heat pumps and a solar array.

However, the couple have now applied for several of the planning conditions to be discharged.

Dartmoor National Park Authority is now considering an application to discard some of the conditions including a requirement that the removal of an external staircase and a first-floor door and the installation of a first-floor window should occur within one year of the original planning permission being granted and that details of how and where air source heat pumps are installed should be approved in advance.

The couple also want to remove the stipulation that details of the 'new replacement painted timber door' should be submitted and approved in writing by planners.

Planners had been reluctant to consent to the plans last year due to concerns that the impact of the proposals on the listed buildings had not been minimised. Planners had notedc that ‘the interior and exterior of the building are of high significance architecturally, historically and archaeologically’.

A decision on the application to remove the conditions will be made at a later date.