TOP Boy actor Ashley Walters is embroiled in a bitter council row over plans to raise his ceilings – because they’re ‘too short’ for his kids.
The actor, who played gang boss Dushane in the popular Netflix show, has threatened to move his family out of their Herne Bay home in Kent, if planning applications are not approved.
Ashley, a dad-of-eight, is fighting for the extension of his £815,000 bungalow conversion, which he bought in 2021, but Kent Council have now squashed his vision twice.
The 41-year-old told KentOnline: “It’s highly likely that if we can’t get it the way we want to, we’ll have to move out of this part of Kent.”
He claimed the reason for multiple rejections is the new design wouldn’t fit in with the council’s desired street view.
However, with 160 new homes approved on farmland in the area despite objections, the Top Boy icon is baffled as to why he can’t get the green light himself.
“It is frustrating knowing that the area is forever changing,” he said.
“There’s a lot of properties being built up across the road, which is going to change the street view for good anyway.
“We’ve appealed twice. We’ve put in planning permission twice and been rejected.”
Ashley and wife Danielle Isaie explained a pre-planning meeting “didn’t get us anywhere” and they are currently waiting for appeal.
He explained: “The swimming pool and stuff in the back is not the thing that’s being contested. It’s the main property.
“It’s about making it slightly bigger in height because it’s a bungalow conversion.
“The top floor is essentially in the roof, which means you’re kind of ducking and as the kids grow they’ll be banging heads on the ceiling.
“So we are just trying to make that a bit higher.”
The planning battle was sparked when two applications were submitted earlier this year.
A design was submitted for a two-storey front and rear extension in March, while another was entered for a two-storey front extension and a single-storey rear extension, including a rear balcony in May.
The frustrated homeowner also spoke of the ongoing planning row with Louis Theroux BBC Two earlier this week.
On the show, Louis asked: “You mentioned there was a planning application war?”
Tow which Ashley said: “There was, yeah. We’ve appealed and we are going to try to go to committee.
“And, I guess after that, it’s moving really.”
A spokesperson for Kent Council said: “The resulting dwelling would be an overly prominent form of development relating poorly to the small-scale character of the neighbours.
“The proposed extensions relate poorly with the existing property and as such the overall development would fail to have sufficient regard for the context and character of the site.”
Council communications officer Robert Davies added: “The most recent application was refused on the grounds that its scale, form, design, appearance and prominence would relate poorly to the design of the existing building and would appear as an incongruous addition to the host property.
“It would also harm the visual quality of the street scene and the character and appearance of the area contrary to policies DBE3 and DBE6 of the Canterbury District Local Plan 2017 and Paragraph 130 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
“The applicant has appealed this decision as is their right and this matter will now be considered by the independent Planning Inspectorate.”
The Sun has approached Kent Council for comment.
It comes as Ashley opened up about his past and “tough time” dealing with his previous stint in prison.
In 2002, following a brawl with a traffic warden, the Top Boy star was sentenced to 18 months in prison for being in possession of a hand gun.
Speaking in his candid interview with Louis Theroux, he explained at the age of 16 he joined a band called So Solid Crew.
“It was only when I got to maybe 16, I changed, as a kid,” Ashley recalls. “In those years is when I went out and I got in trouble, and joined So Solid.
“I wasn’t rebelling against my mum, but it was rebelling against all of those things that she’d built up for me and how safe she kept me… I didn’t grow up rich, but I had no reason to sell drugs or to be out on the street.
“But I was walking with some real gangsters at the time, so it was easy for me to become a target.”
After shooting to fame with his band, Ashley spoke of one terrifying incident when he had a gun pulled on him while carrying his baby son – Shayon, now 22 – after making a “passing comment” about someone stealing his lyrics on the radio.
He told Louis: “It’s just intimidation. They pulled up on my house. I had to learn a lot of lessons.”
Following the scary encounter, Ashley spent £1,300 on a converted Brocock air pistol to “protect himself”.
In 2002 he was arrested after yelling “I’m going to shoot you” during an argument with a traffic warden.
Ashley’s partner at the time, Natalie Williams, and their then-young son and daughter, Shayon and China, now 21, witnessed him being handcuffed by armed police and taken away.
“I wasn’t actually going to shoot,” he says. “I weren’t willing to risk my liberty over shooting a traffic warden. But I mean, I made my comments, I said what I said.
“It was horrific. My biggest regret is that my kids were there.”
Ashley was sentenced to 18 months prison, and served seven.
“It was a big part of my life,” he admits. “I didn’t ever want to go back to prison.”
