I just can't stop crying: Sharron's despair as planners allow care home next door to her mansion

• Athlete and mother vows to fight the ruling 'tooth and nail' and will challenge council's decision through law

• Says she was happy with original care home proposals but that new, expanded plan looks 'awful, just like a prison'

• 'People think that because you are in the public eye you are loaded - but that is just not true...I am a hard working single mum who has bought this beautiful family home'

By Luke Salkeld for the Daily Mail
Updated: 04:17 EDT, 6 January 2012

Crushed: Sharron Davies says the 'prison'-like care home will ruin her view and compromise her privacy 

Sharron Davies says she ‘can’t stop crying’ after being defeated in a planning battle which will see her home overshadowed by an ‘unsightly’ multi-million-pound property development.

The former Olympic swimmer has been contesting an application to build a large private care home opposite her £1.1million Grade II-listed mansion.

And yesterday she broke down in tears after councillors gave the scheme the go-ahead.

The 49-year-old mother of three, who won silver in the 400m individual medley at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, claims the development plans for the facility in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, have been radically changed since she bought her Georgian house.

She added that, with the help of a lawyer, she planned to continue her fight ‘tooth and nail’.

The former Dancing on Ice contestant said she and her neighbours were appalled that permission had been granted at a council meeting on Wednesday night.

She said: ‘The whole thing has been snuck under the radar and it is so unfair.

‘People think that because you are in the public eye you are loaded – but that is just not true. 
‘I could not afford to lose my deposit when I found out about [the building plans].

‘I am a hard-working single mum who has bought this  beautiful family home in this  lovely place, but that dream has now evaporated.’

Miss Davies, who is separated from her third husband, said that permission would never have been granted for the building if it was not used to house the elderly.

She continued: ‘Everybody could see that the planners felt that if it wasn’t a care home then they would have voted it down.

‘That means it should not have been approved. The decision was made on emotions.

‘We are not against care homes, just the size, mass and appearance of this building which will be so close to our homes.’

Miss Davies bought her house on the site of a former hospital in September, knowing that private care home provider Castlemead, of which Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is a major shareholder, had outlined plans for a 42-bed centre in its grounds.

Miss Davies said she was happy with the original proposals.

But just 48 hours later she learned that the plans had ‘radically’ expanded.

She said: ‘I have never objected to a care home being there but they have increased the capacity by 50 per cent, from 42 to 63.

‘It is going to be on four storeys and looks awful, just like a prison.

‘The hypocrisy is that Castlemead will be able to charge a premium for residents having a view of lovely listed buildings, while those of us who have paid for and live in the houses will have a view of a horrible prison.

‘It will be so close that I will be able to see the whites of residents’ eyes as they sit in their community room, which will be on two levels.’

Dream in tatters: The Grade II Listed home in Bradford-upon-Avon, Wiltshire, cost £1.1m and is on the site of the town's former hospital

Plans: The red circle shows the site of Ms Davies' home, while the blue is the proposed site of the new 63-room care home

Councillors voted by eight to  four to give the green light to the controversial plan.

The proposal had already been supported by local health campaigners.

John Cottle, chairman of the town’s community healthcare forum, said: ‘We are delighted that after several false starts councillors have approved our plan.’

A spokesman for Castlemead said work would begin in the summer, with the home opening in 2013.

However Miss Davies said: ‘My barrister believes I have a very strong case and I am determined to fight this as far as I can.

‘If this goes to judicial review then it will be judged purely on a planning, legal argument instead of emotions. I am convinced that the outcome will be very different.’