Bob Ell’s tennis court plea: ‘It’s for the children’

Bellevue Hill Billionaire Bob Ell has told a planning panel he wants to spend $1.56 million building a tennis court — that will be built on top of a storage area overlooking the street and that his neighbours disapprove of — to give his children somewhere to play and to improve the streetscape for the general public.

Biollionaire Bob Ell told a court he wanted to build another tennis court at his $30 million home to give his young children somewhere to play and to improve the streetscape for the general public.

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It appears to be game, set and match for property tycoon Bob Ell in his bid to build a tennis court at his Bellevue Hill mansion.

The 73-year-old billionaire had his plans knocked back for a third time as the Woollahra Local Planning Panel said his proposal was a no-go on Thursday afternoon.

An irate Mr Ell questioned the panel chairman after the meeting, asking what else he could have done.

Clearly not satisfied with chairman Peter Webber’s response, he said “oh well, we go to court again,” before walking out the room.

The tennis court plans have previously been rejected by Woollahra Council. He challenged that decision before the Land and Environment (L & E) Court in July but a judge sided with the council.

It appears Mr Ell will now try his luck once more with the L & E court.

The property already has a tennis court which Mr Ell wants to rip up.

Earlier in this afternoon’s Local Planning Panel proceedings, Mr Ell made an impassioned plea calling on the panel to approve the plans for his Cranbrook Lane home.

Clearly frustrated at his struggles to get the court approved, Mr Ell, who is worth $1.56 billion, introduced himself as the “unfortunate owner of the house”.

“Oh I don’t know, it’s a pretty nice house,” Graham Humphrey, the panel’s community representative, responded.

Mr Ell said he had submitted the $1.56 million proposal to give his children somewhere to play and to improve the streetscape for the general public.

“We wanted to improve the living standards of my four children, who are six, eight, ten and 12,” the 73-year-old said.

“There is a very big drop off from the level of the lounge and dining room to the tennis court if they happen to fall over the fence — which nearly happened one time.”

He bought his Bellevue Hill mansion for a reported $30 million.

Mr Ell, who lives in the home with his wife who is 26 years his junior, already has a tennis court above his garage.

The proposal is to rip up the court and create an indoor space for rainwater tanks and other storage.

He then wants to build his new tennis court on top of this storage area.

“I know we are breaking one or two small rules by fence height,” he told the committee. “But I think we are improving it at great expense to myself. We are improving my living and my children.”

He also made reference to “not attractive” developments of his neighbours and said his tennis court would improve the general streetscape.

Mr Ell and Max Christmas at the 80th birthday party for developer Norm Rix.

“We are offering the public and everyone else a better solution by further landscaping, better landscaping,” he said.

Mr Ell’s architect said a number of changes had been made from the proposal rejected by the Land and Environment Court earlier this year.

However, the panel disagreed.

“We have noted carefully and discussed the changes made in comparison with the scheme refused by the Land and Environment Court in August,” Mr Webber said.

“We do consider them to be relatively minor in nature and not significant enough to change our views.”

The panel unanimously rejected the proposal.

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