Plans to turn a derelict barn into a block of stables have been thrown out by planners due to the impact on the nearby Kenilworth Castle.

Warwick District Council has refused to grant permission to rebuild the collapsed Hammonds Barn on Purlieu Lane into a private stables, saying the scheme was inappropriate in the green belt.

The proposals 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However, two applications to redevelop the building into larger stables have since been submitted and withdrawn, before this latest application was refused.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 - which welcomed the idea of a private stables - 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".

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See the application here.