CAMPAIGNERS battling to save the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Undershaw, from falling into disrepair received a major boost last week when planners turned down two plans for the site. Waverley Borough Council considered the applications at the development management meeting on Wednesday, December 20. Owner Desmond Moore, who bought the Hindhead property around 18 months ago, had submitted separate plans to convert the house - which was used as a restaurant and hotel for years - into smaller dwellings. One plan sought to convert the hotel into four dwellings, turn the lodge into two key worker houses and build three houses in the grounds, while the other asked for listed building permission to convert the hotel into four dwellings and the lodge into key worker properties. Both plans have caused outrage among many local residents, who say they feel the grade two-listed building should be preserved for its literary heritage. The borough council received 43 letters of objection to each plan. Residents are also furious at the state the house has been allowed to fall into - unsecured, vandalised and with evidence of drug use on the site. Speaking against the application, Doyle biographer John Gibson told the meeting: "It is imperative that the house should not be divided into smaller units or converted into a nursing home - as Doyle's subsequent and last home at Crowborough has become - really precluding tourism. "In the words of Sherlock Holmes: 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left must be the truth.' "It is elementary that the truth must be a restaurant/hotel - with perhaps improved access and parking." He added that the house was built for its view, and that to build houses on the land would defeat the point. Mr Gibson also told the meeting that he had received 12 letters from people interested in running the building as an hotel which, he claimed, disproved the owner's contention that the venture was not of interest to businessmen. But the arguments for keeping the house were enough for the committee, which rejected both schemes. After the meeting, the groups who had fought for the current plans to be scrapped, and for the house to be rejuvenated and returned to its former glory, spoke of their delight. Haslemere Society president Robert Serman said: "We were very glad that the borough council recommended refusal of consent for development. "All of the parties who are fighting to save Undershaw wish it to continue to be used so the public may have access, either to use the restaurant or stay in the hotel. "Both the National Trust and this society share a concern for Undershaw's historic heritage. Its unique position at the head of the National Trust-owned Nutcombe Valley make it vitally important that the views should be preserved." National Trust regional director Sue Saville added that, while not opposed to development in any form, the trust needed to be sure that it would be right for the house and for the future of Hindhead. She explained: "One of our areas of interest in Hindhead has been finding a tunnel solution, and now that has happened we need to look at what happens next. "If you go for housing ... you deny public access and association to something that would bring interest to Hindhead. "We have to do this for all our (National Trust) properties on a day-to-day basis, and will continue to try to do anything that will help find the answer. "We don't have the answer, but we think we can support the finding of one." Phil Bates, of The Grayshott Society, wrote to the council to express its disapproval, echoing previous groups' views that it should be kept as an hotel and restaurant and highlighting its literary and historic importance. No-one from RDA Architects, which submitted the plans on behalf of owner Desmond Moore, was available for comment following the decision.
