Gino D’Acampo demands footpath closure to keep fans away from £1.2m home
Gino D'Acampo has become embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours in Hertfordshire over his demands to shut a public footpath close to his £1.2 million mansion.
The TV chef, 43, has asked for the public footpath to be closed at weekends to keep autograph hunters away from his luxury home.
Residents living close to the grade-II listed seven-bedroom home have insisted the pathway is vital to the community as the thoroughfare is used to access a doctors' surgery and pharmacy.
However, D'Acampo and his wife Jessica, who have lived in the townhouse since 2016, have insisted they need privacy for their young family.
The chef told Mail Online : "I don't know what all the fuss is about. You can see the path is open.
"I only want to have it closed at weekends when it's not being used."
In a letter to council planning officers, Jessica explained: "I just want my family which includes young children to feel safe and secure and have privacy.
"A couple of times I have had people in my garden taking pictures and there are frequent knocks on the door with people asking for pictures of Gino or signed books.
"I often get abused in the driveway and it is obviously dangerous for members of the public to treat the driveway effectively as a public space without concern about my family or our visitors' car driving up and down the driveway."
The star first asked the council to close the footpath completely two years, but withdrew the application and is now seeking temporary closure at weekends.
The footpath leads along the side of the D'Acampo home and garden, which is protected by a high wooden fence and steel gates.
A notice has been placed at the entrance path declaring it is not a "right of way" and warns walkers not to dawdle at any point while using the path.
Neighbours have complained that the path has been open to the public for years and the chef should not be allowed to close it off.
One told the Mail: "He only moved here a couple of years ago and now he thinks he owns the town. Who does he think he is?
"The lane is an historic walkway. It has been in use for years – hundreds of years probably.
"It's the best way to get to the surgery. It takes about five times longer to walk around the surgery."
Another argued against the closure in a letter to the council, claiming the gates and fences had been put up deliberately in a bid to discourage people from using the public footpath.
They wrote: "I have used the path since the 1990s at numerous and various house and never noticed any gates…
"Then about two years ago, huge gates appeared and barred this route to the surgery and I thought this was thoughtless.
"Around this time I complained to the council. Subsequently, the gates opened with a button or a sensor for limited hours…
"The manoeuvres people had to make to negotiate the gates was considerably dangerous and impossible for people with disabilities to use.
"I believe this was a strategy to deter users from using the path, along with being intimidated and a feeling of enclosure."
The manager of the surgery has also written to the council to complain about the star's demands to have the path closed – insisting it will make access much more difficult for disabled patients.
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