The singer’s proposals for the boat-shaped place of worship have already been approved – but he now hopes planners will also let him have a crypt.

Latest plans state the 2x1.8m burial zone will be “beneath penetration through slab” in the Anglo Saxon-style chapel.

Original designs for the two-storey building included a 48ft tower, pews and stained glass windows. The burial zone will be in the nave, in front of the pews.

Explaining its position, Ed’s father-in-law Matthew Seaborn wrote in a planning document: “The rising of the sun is relevant both in the Abrahamic and oriental traditions and in the more environmentally led philosophies of the present day.”