Plans to turn a derelict barn into a block of stables will be decided by a planning inspector, after an appeal was lodged against the council's decision.

Warwick District Council (WDC) had originally refused permission to rebuild the collapsed Hammonds Barn on Purlieu Lane into a private stables, saying the scheme was inappropriate in the green belt.

The proposal near Kenilworth Castle had received a number of objections, including ones from Kenilworth Town Council and Historic England.

In 2007 approval was given to turn the barn into stables, but the building collapsed and an application to rebuild it in 2013 was also approved.

However, two applications to redevelop the building into larger stables have since been submitted and withdrawn, before this latest application was refused.

A council report - refusing the application - said: "Limited information has been provided for assessment of the application."

"The applicant has not put forward any specific VSCs [very special circumstances] in the application and none have been found during this assessment which would outweigh the harm to the green belt by way of inappropriateness and the other harm identified above," it added.

The district council also took issue with the visual impact on the nearby Grade I listed Kenilworth Castle and said the scheme failed "to preserve the openness of the green belt".

But now the owners have appealed the decision saying the council's reasons "make little sense".

WDC's planners were criticised for taking so long on the decision - which came some seven months after the original target date of July 2022.

The appeal also says the council has granted permission for similar stables on the same lane and says the stables would be built out of brick "as Historic England agreed this may be preferable".

The district council must now make its case before a decision on the appeal is made.

See the application here.