Vincent Kompany, the Manchester City captain, is the latest sports star to have become embroiled in a planning row after his scheme to build a luxury development was opposed by Historic England.
The government’s heritage advisers have attacked the footballer’s plans to demolish buildings in Manchester and replace them with a nine-storey block of flats, described as “monolithic”. The plans were given the go-ahead by councillors yesterday despite the objections.
Kompany, 32, who plays international football for Belgium, wanted to tear down a former 1950s electrical works in the city’s Ancoats conservation area and replace it with a single block containing flats, offices and a rooftop communal garden.
