U2's The Edge in row over Malibu homes

Los Angeles - U2 guitarist The Edge is locked in a dispute with Californian authorities over plans to build five new luxury homes near Malibu, with officials claiming they would harm the local environment.

The star - real name David Evans - wants to build the houses on a ridge in the hills overlooking Malibu up the Pacific coast from Los Angeles, and has set up a website boasting they are environmentally-friendly.

But the California Coastal Commission has filed a report recommending that the planning applications be rejected when they go before local lawmakers next week.

Rugged mountain terrain

The body says the homes would violate state law by ruining a wild area and scarring hillsides visible from Pacific Coast Highway, the road that offers spectacular views all the way up to San Francisco.

"The area is undeveloped and comprised of steep, rugged mountain terrain that (are) blanketed by various natural rock outcroppings and primarily undisturbed native chaparral habitat," said the report, published on Friday.

"The proposed construction of single family residences... is not consistent with... the guidance policies of the Malibu-Santa Monica Mountains (and) would result in significant impacts to visual resources" it added.

The U2 musician says the five multimillion-dollar properties, dubbed "Leaves In The Wind", will blend with natural rock outcroppings, and use natural and native plants to screen them and make them fit in with the natural environment.

‘We love Malibu’

"I hope you will agree that my partners and I have worked diligently to design homes that will meet the highest environmental standards," he said on a website about the project.

The homes' award-winning designer Wallace Cunningham "has nestled each of the unique homes as carefully as possible into the natural landscape, minimising their profile while maximizing the creative usefulness of interior and exterior spaces.

"The organic designs of the homes will make use of the soil and colours of the land, blending them into their surroundings to the greatest extent possible," he added.

"Why did we go to so much effort? Because we love Malibu."

The planning applications will be discussed on February 10 at a meeting in Chula Vista, near San Diego two hours south of Los Angeles.