U2's Edge gets permit to build five hilltop properties in Malibu

U2 guitarist The Edge has won approval to build five hilltop homes in the California celebrity enclave of Malibu despite opposition from environmentalists who fear it will endanger crucial wildlife corridors for such animals as mountain lions and bobcats, officials said.

The Edge, whose real name is David Evans, and his team bought the property in 2005 and since then he has pursued regulatory approval from the California Coastal Commission to be able to eventually build on the site and live there.

The unanimous vote by the Coastal Commission at a meeting in Monterey, in central California, to approve the 5.2-acre (2.1-hectare) project in the exclusive beach community just outside Los Angeles marked a reversal from its 2011 decision to reject the project.