Almost two years after car-alarm millionaire Terry Coleman and his wife Anita paid a record £5.9 million for Sorrento House on Sorrento Terrace, Dalkey, they still have not managed to get planning permission for the extensions and alteration they desire. The couple were recently turned down for a major refurbishment plan to the listed house but have now reapplied. Now, yet again, they are seeking approval for a two-storey dormer garage/residential unit on the half-acre grounds. Meanwhile they are sitting it out in one of England's most expensive neighbourhoods - Alderley Edge in Cheshire. Across the bay in Howth, Riverdance couple John McColgan and Moya Doherty are having better luck with the Fingal planners. They have just been granted permission to provide new entrance gates, potting shed, conservatory and an ornamental shell house at Dane's Hollow on Carrickbrack Road. The couple's new home is taking a lot longer than they thought to finish but then it will be many times larger than the average house in Dublin when it is complete.