'Royal' Towcester stables to be demolished for housing

Park View Stables played a role in Royal hunting in the nineteenth century

Historians have objected to plans to demolish a former stables with royal connections - to make way for a housing development.

Talbot Homes has been granted permission to knock down Park View Stables in Towcester, Northamptonshire.

The project will create 2,750 homes, a school and health facilities - with 27 houses earmarked for the stables site.

But critics say the building played an important role in the creation of Towcester Racecourse.

The stables will be demolished as part of a sustainable urban extension, known as Towcester Vale.

According to Towcester Local History Society, the stables were built in the 1860s for Thomas Bateson, who lived in Park View House after resigning as the MP for Londonderry.

Between 1875 and 1877, Park View was used as a hunting lodge by King Francesco II of the Two Sicilies and his wife, Sophia.

King Francesco II of the Two Sicilies used Park View as a hunting lodge in the 1870s

When Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh created the Towcester Racecourse Company in 1928, the stables were used by visiting trainers to accommodate their horses.

Strategic planning councillors meeting to discuss the proposal to demolish the stables this week were told that the Local History Society wanted the council to consider the block's historic, rather than architectural, significance.

Side view of the stables, showing its current crumbling condition

Towcester Town Council said an independent structural survey should be carried out to assess the condition of the building, and the developer should investigate whether parts could be preserved.

Councillor Rosie Herring said: "We can't keep sacrificing heritage on the altar of profit and greed. Once they're gone they're gone forever."

Ben Cook, speaking on behalf of Talbot Homes, said: "Whilst it may be possible to repair the existing stables, to do so would require extensive rebuilding [which] would erode any remaining historical significance of the asset."

David James, a councillor, spoke in favour of the proposal at the meeting: "The nicest thing to happen now would be for the development not to be spoilt by anything that has been cobbled together and is still basically an eyesore."

The plan was approved with 10 members voting in favour and three voting against.