Actor Sean Bean has lost his bid to build a privacy screen at his Belsize Park home to shield himself from nosy neighbours.

The keen gardener, who recently starred as a transvestite in BBC crime series Accused, applied to Camden Council to transform his flat roof into a terrace and put up a screen against prying eyes.

DVM Architects, based in Camden Town, said in planning documents submitted to the council that the terrace would have been built using black painted metal railings to “complement the existing traditional character of the property”.

But following complaints from neighbours including the Belsize Conservation Area Advisory Committee, the council last week refused to pass the application made by the Lord of the Rings star.

In a report it read: “The distance of the screen to this window is considered to harm the outlook of occupiers and therefore is unacceptable in amenity terms.”