Macca under siege from Crossrail

Lech Mintowt-Czyz11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Sir Paul McCartney could be forgiven for thinking someone has got it in for him.

The singer, who is already employing divorce lawyers to deal with his marriage split and planning experts over a log cabin he built illegally, is now embroiled in a further legal row over the effect London's Crossrail project could have on his Soho recording studio.

McCartney, 64, fears two high-speed tracks could pass directly below his offices, disrupting recording sessions and potentially making the whole building unsafe. He has fired off an objection to the £ 16billion rail scheme.

The former Beatle also sent a letter to MPs demanding assurances he will not be forced to sell his base and insisting he receive compensation should the scheme go ahead.

In the letter opposing the Crossrail Bill, his lawyers claim his "musical and recording activities are susceptible to interference".

The scheme for a high-speed rail line running from Maidenhead to Shenfield, through central London, was first mooted in 1989 and has attracted widespread political support but no commitment from successive governments to pick up the ever-increasing bill.

Mayor Ken Livingstone says it is a "national priority" and more important to the capital than the 2012 Olympics.

But it is unlikely to be completed until 2015 at the earliest, with more than £400 million in public money having been spent on preparing the ground.

MPs have already criticised Crossrail's promoters for creating confusion over which properties will be affected, with the Government now preparing to amend the plan for a third time.

This latest dispute comes on top of McCartney's increasingly acrimonious-divorce from Heather Mills. He is said to have offered his second wife a £40 million settlement and has instructed Fiona Shackleton, the divorce lawyer who acted for Prince Charles and has earned the nickname "The Steel Magnolia".

Ms Mills responded by retaining the services of the lawyer who acted for Princess Diana, Anthony Julius.

In a third piece of legal manoeuvring-McCartney is also engaged in a battle with planning authorities over a two-bedroom wooden lodge and pavilion he built four years ago in the grounds of his Peasmarsh estate in East Sussex.

He failed to get planning permission for the £1 million buildings and Rother District Council has demanded they be torn down on the grounds that they "harm the intrinsic landscape quality".

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