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New York Post
Billionaire Blackstone boss Steve Schwarzman hits surprising bump in developing $100M country estate
By James Franey,
10 hours ago
Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman, one of the titans of Wall Street, may finally have met his match in the tiniest of creatures: the English great-crested newt.
The private equity boss has been trying to revamp a $100 million, 2,500-acre country estate he snapped up in Wiltshire, southern England, in 2022.
But the UK’s notoriously tight planning laws have proven to be a mighty headache for the 77-year-old money man — with the lowly amphibian slowing progress on the impressive country pile called Conholt Park.
The house, built in the 17th century, was once owned by one of Oliver Cromwell’s diplomats and later became “a shooting estate.” Wiltshire Council
The great-crested newt is an endangered species in Europe, but common to English wetlands.
Schwarzman, whose net worth is an estimated $38 billion, was forced to order a great-crested newts DNA detection report in June of last year, according to the documents obtained by The Post.
Schwarzman’s renovations include a new lake, a three-story wing to the property and a stable barn conversion that will become staff housing, the application shows.
The paperwork, which runs to hundreds of pages, shows the extraordinary hoops that Schwarzman had to jump through in order to get the plans signed off by local government pen pushers.
An army of consultants was drafted to produce a series of environmental impact reports required by English law.
He and wife, Christine, have signed up to a 30-year “habitat mitigation” strategy that includes a weekly biodiversity audit, as well as timing construction to avoid amphibian hibernation.
Meanwhile, the detection report shows that the Conholt Park is believed to be a newt-free zone.
The Blackstone boss was forced to order a great-crested newts DNA detection report in June of last year, according to the documents obtained by The Post. Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A Blackstone spokesman told the Post: “As the report said: no newts is good news.”
Schwarzman bent the ear of the UK’s new finance minister, Rachel Reeves, about how the red tape was hindering renovations at the 17th century property ahead of a dinner in New York on Tuesday.
Britain’s recently-elected left-wing government claims it wants to rip up archaic planning laws to make it easier to build new homes and tackle the country’s chronic housing shortage.
But one source close to the Blackstone CEO dismissed any suggestion that Schwarzman had used the meeting to lobby for special treatment.
“Steve has no recollection of talking about newts,” the source said.
Sources said Schwarzman roasted Rachel Reeves over dinner in New York over the laborious planning application that he was subjected to in Wiltshire, southern England. Bloomberg via Getty Images
“It says a lot about our planning system,” an aide to Reeves told the Financial Times newspaper.
The FT also reported that the pair had discussed Blackstone’s plans to open a $13 billion data center in Blyth, northeast England, with Reeves having reassured Schwarzman that she would support the project.
Schwarzman’s estate is described as “listed” — an English legal term to describe a structure of particular architectural or historic interest that deserves special protection.
Filings show it was once owned by Sir Philip Meadows, an English diplomat who was Oliver Cromwell’s ambassador to Denmark during England’s brief experiment as a republic.
According to the application, in the 1850s, it became a shooting estate, which from 1991, was developed into “one of the finest shooting estates in the south of England.”
Britain’s left-wing finance minister Rachel Reeves claims she wants to rip up the current planning laws that are blamed for stifling economic growth and the country’s chronic housing shortage. via REUTERS
Aside from being on newt patrol, the mega-bucks financier was forced to submit a 124-page “bat emergence survey” to comply with national wildlife conservation regulations that protect the nocturnal mammals.
“Under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017,” the application said. “it is an offense to harm or disturb bats or damage or destroy their roosts.”
A “barn owl mitigation plan” was also drawn up to give birds places to nest across the property.
Bureaucrats even issued Schwarzman a bizarre diktat last September in which he was “encouraged” to use green energy sources in the local government’s fight against “the climate emergency.”
The hapless Schwarzman was forced to conscript an army of consultants to get his planning application over the line and in step with English environmental regulations. Wiltshire Council
He was also made to consult with as many as 10 government agencies as well as his new neighbors before the renovations could be rubber-stamped.
The application reads: “The coach house and the north-western range of the stables have recently undergone conversion and alteration in some areas without listed building consent or planning permission.
“Additional unauthorized landscaping and building has been undertaken on their north-western side.
“The changes are insensitive to the historic building and its setting,” it says.
The one-time Lehman Brothers managing director already owns a posh Manhattan pad on 740 Park Avenue, a few blocks away from his company’s global headquarters.
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