A charity has submitted a revised planning application to renovate and expand a historic house and park in Twickenham, but concerns remain amongst local campaigners.

English Heritage reviewed its plan to develop Marble Hill House and Park in Twickenham after locals expressed worries over their original proposal, sparking a petition which reached almost 4,000 signatures.

The charity has spent the last 6 months consulting with residents to reach a compromise, but campaigners feel their concerns have not been addressed.

Kate Pitt, English Heritage’s Audience Development Manager at Marble Hill, said: “Many people were very supportive of our initial plans, but there were also concerns about some elements.

“So, in February this year we took a step back, withdrew the original planning application and worked with the local community to try to find a practical consensus on those areas of concern.

“Marble Hill desperately needs this investment and we need the community to support our planning application and help secure Marble Hill’s future, so it was important that we got it right.”

The revised £6m plans involve opening the house to the public, for free, five days a week for seven months of the year, restoring the garden and improving the sports facilities, café and children’s play area.

Love Marble Hill (LMH), a community group which describes itself as "dedicated to safeguarding Marble Hill House and Park for future generations", was part of the consultation process.

The group has not seen the revised application as it is not yet publicly available, but members feel their concerns were not properly addressed in the consultation period, particularly regarding plans to re-landscape the park grounds.

LMH member Janine Fotiadis, who was heavily involved in the consultation and represented Love Marble Hill at English Heritage’s steering groups, said: “Re-landscaping plans were supposed to be addressed at an EH consultation workshop in the summer, but attendees were left baffled after they were asked to glue pictures of trees, animals and birds onto a pre-drawn garden design.

“Park-goers felt they weren’t given the opportunity to say what they wanted.

“The tree loss at the park remains unnecessarily high under revised plans. The woodlands around the house will be destroyed and won’t be significantly replanted. They currently provide habitat for protected species such as badgers.

“The open character of the Park will be lost. Multiple tree avenues are to be planted either side of the river lawn, narrowing the view from the house to the river and cutting it off from the rest of the park.”

Much of the controversy centres on the historical accuracy of a garden drawing from 1749 which English Heritage used as the basis for their re-landscaping plans.

While English Heritage claims the drawing was a landscape survey produced after the garden was built, campaigners argue the drawing was a design proposal that was never fully implemented.

English Heritage has been awarded a grant of £4.08m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund Through its Parks for People Programme for the project.

The charity will be running an Open Day at Marble Hill on Saturday, September 15, from 11am-2pm, when people can tour the house and gardens and find out more about the Marble Hill project

Visit: www.english-heritage.org.uk/marblehillrevived for more information.