Ed Sheeran’s pond at Suffolk estate is NOT a swimming pool say council despite complaints from neighbours who said it had ‘steps, a handrail and jetty’ for a ‘wild lifestyle rather than wildlife’

• Sheeran, 28, angered neighbours who claimed he had built a swimming pool
• He was given permission for the pond in 2016 providing it was for nature only  
• Suffolk estate already boasts an indoor pool and a four-room treehouse  

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A team sent to investigate the pond at Ed Sheeran’s (pictured in June last year) country estate have found it is not a swimming pool 

A team sent to investigate the pond at Ed Sheeran’s country estate have found it is not a swimming pool – despite neighbour complaints it has ladders and changing rooms.

The singer, 28, applied for permission to build a large kidney-shaped pond on the grounds of his Suffolk estate in 2016. 

He promised council bosses it would ‘support nature conservation… providing a natural habitat for breeding and wetland invertebrates such as dragonflies and water beetles, as well as providing a source of drinking water to birds and mammals’. 

But neighbours were fuming when they noticed step ladders, a jetty and a Romany-style caravan, which they claimed was being used as a changing room.

To settle the dispute Suffolk Coastal District Council was sent to investigate – but has now concluded that there is ‘no evidence that it is not a wildlife pond’. 

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Neighbour Tony Robinson said: ‘I believe that the development of the site is more about creating an environment for a ‘wild lifestyle’ rather than actual ‘wildlife’!’ 

Andrew Cattee said that ‘what was initially a wildlife pond has become a recreational swimming pond, now with the addition of steps, handrail and jetty’. 

Sheeran submitted a retrospective planning application for the jetty, ladder and handrail, which was eventually approved, but neighbours were still unhappy. 

The singer, 28, applied for permission to build a large kidney-shaped pond (pictured) on the grounds of his Suffolk estate in 2016, but neighbours claimed it was being used as a swimming pool as there was a jetty (circled left) and a caravan they claimed could be a changing room (right) 

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Ed Sheeran for comment.  

His home already boasts a an indoor swimming pool and a four-room treehouse, and a well-trodden path leads from his house to the pond, which is about a third of the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

Ed Sheeran is pictured with his partner Cheery Seaborn in London in 2017 

Last year, the pop star, whose hits include Dive, was denied planning permission for a 24-seat Saxon-style chapel to be built on the estate, amid concern that it might endanger a colony of great crested newts.

A Suffolk Coastal District Council spokesman said: ‘As a result of the concerns raised, Suffolk Coastal’s Planning Enforcement Team visited the premises.

‘There was no evidence that it is not a wildlife pond, as plants are growing in and around it, or that the planning conditions had been broken.

‘We will continue to monitor the situation.’

A planning application submitted on behalf of the 28-year-old singer-songwriter claimed a jetty and two sets of steps would ‘form interest to the pond’ and enable access ‘in the event of maintenance and emergency’. 

Sheeran’s country estate in Suffolk (pictured from above) already boasts a an indoor swimming pool and a four-room treehouse

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