Pippa Middleton’s husband, James Matthews, has insisted on the need for enhanced security at the surrounding grounds of their £15 million Berkshire home.
The Matthews’ are involved in ongoing hearings to determine whether the family of five will be able to keep a gate installed by the hedge fund manager, to “improve security” for his wife, and their three young children, Arthur, Grace and Rose, given their “public profile.”
According to the Telegraph, James, who is the elder brother of former Made in Chelsea star Spencer Matthews, has been met with backlash from local residents who claim the driveway has, for decades, been a vital link between two other footpaths to allow pedestrians to avoid walking on dangerous roads.
But this, according to James, wasn’t clear when he purchased the property four years ago. The dad-of-three told the inquiry in a written statement released on Friday: “Prior to moving in, I had visited the house only a few times.
“I did not see any members of the public using the drive on those visits. There was nothing in the conveyancing process which alerted me to any public use of the drive.
“There are implications for my family, due to their high public profile, which means there is a need for a higher level of security than would otherwise be the case if the circumstances were different. Therefore, to improve security for my family, before we moved in, I arranged for an electric security gate to be erected on the drive.”
© Anadolu via Getty ImagesJames added that when the gate was installed across the driveway, “no one from the parish council or the village came to speak with us, or contacted us, about the gate to say that there was any problem with it being there.”
He told the inquiry that “unfortunately, there has been a continued need to enhance security” and the gates were upgraded last summer and kept closed.
James continued: “In the last three and a half years since I bought the house, I have seen only a handful of people, on maybe two or three occasions, walking along the drive.”
“Each time I have spoken to them and told them it was not a public footpath. Each time, they acknowledged that it was not a footpath and asked for permission to continue. On each occasion, I gave them permission to continue, but for just that once.”
The publication added that Ken Taylor, the government-appointed planning inspector, has ruled that issues of privacy and security are outside the scope of the inquiry. The hearing continues later this month.
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