ENGLISH Heritage has lodged a strongly worded objection to plans to convert Sherlock Homes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's old Undershaw home into a world-class special school.

David Forbes-Nixon, who has a 12-year-old son at Stepping Stones' present site in Tower Road, announced plans to buy Undershaw through his DFN Charitable Foundation if it was given planning permission to expand Stepping Stones.

But English Heritage claimed this week – when lodging its objection – that the transformation, including a new glass-fronted extension, would do "fundamental harm" to its historic importance.

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