IN THE mountains above the billionaire’s beach town of Malibu, the rock star known as the Edge has been introducing his children to nature. They have rambled among rare flowers, looking for bobcats and coyote, and have named a familiar redtailed hawk Chestnut. It is an idyllic escape for U2’s modestly born guitarist.

Now the Edge, aka David Howell Evans, who was born in Barking, east London, and grew up in Malahide, near Dublin, wants to build a dream house on a peak 900ft above the Pacific coastline.

It is extravagantly designed with a cascade of 19 overlapping roofs intended to resemble bronze leaves being blown along the ridge.

However, some residents of Malibu believe this is where the 47-year-old guitarist’s love affair with nature ends. Plans to fund the house, called Leaves in the Wind, by building four other mansions in an environmentally sensitive area protected by the California Coastal Commission, a watchdog agency, have provoked disapproval.

In a town where celebrities erect 60-room Tuscan villas, replica Buddhist temples and Gothic castles without raising too many eyebrows, the Edge’s ambitions are judged to be at odds with the high moral standing of his band, which campaigns vigorously for good causes including protecting the poor and the environment.

In particular, he faces opposition from Jefferson Wagner, 56, a former Ralph Lauren model, a surfboard shop owner, Hollywood explosives adviser – and the next mayor of Malibu.

Wagner, known as Zuma Jay after his shop, and his girlfriend, Candace Brown, are credited with having persuaded the Edge to drop an earlier plan to build on a nearby canyon called Latigo.

Zuma Jay follows celebrities such as Martin Sheen, the actor, into the post of mayor this September, and has said he will challenge the Edge’s latest project.

A fan of U2, he says he is disappointed at the musician’s apparent disregard for flora and fauna. “This is not what Malibu is about. These kind of places are ego run riot,” he said.

His girlfriend went further: “The Edge has more money than God – why does he need to spoil the mountains for everyone?

“And when you see what U2 stand for, there is a double standard between their private and public lives.”

Another local, Jim Smith, who clashed with the coastal commission when he built his own home at the foot of the Edge’s mountain two decades ago, says he bumped into the musician inspecting the peak.

“The Edge was very friendly – said he wanted to be a good neighbour. His kids love it up here. But the plans for these houses, which could sell for $40m each, will deface the mountainside,” said Smith, a building project manager.

“This is not what good neighbours do in Malibu. He had the opportunity to be a local hero, but we are very saddened by his actions. I know what he told me, but his actions are so loud I cannot hear what he is saying any more.”

The Edge was a regular visitor to Malibu even before he married his second wife, Morleigh Steinberg, a dancer, in 2002. She is from nearby Santa Monica and is determined to keep their children Sian, 11, and Levi, 9, in touch with their Californian roots.

Representatives of the Edge, who paid $9.2m (£6.4m) for the site, are to put his case to the coastal commission in June.

Last Friday Jim Vandenberg, his project manager, insisted that Malibu had nothing to worry about.

“The Edge will be building his home and these other houses to the highest environmental standards,” he said. “The Edge and his wife love this area. They want to make it their home, not damage it, and he is very eager now to get on with building. It’s going to be a wonderful home for his family.”

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