CAMPAIGNER John Gibson is leading calls for the former home of Sherlock Homes creator Arthur Conan Doyle to be renovated.

Undershaw, the Grade II Listed building at Hindhead, has been allowed to fall into a dilapidated state over the past seven years while the property has been at the centre of a planning wrangle between developers, the borough council and supporters who want the author's old home to become a landmark for tourists.

Mr Gibson is calling on Waverley Borough Council to reactivate a repair order served on the developer in 2008 – and to serve a compulsory purchase order if it is not complied with, instead of giving the owner "exactly what he required" under the planning permission sought in 2010, he said.

For full story, see this week's Haslemere Herald.