I am Harry Mount and I believe passionately in the mission of the National to look after heritage on behalf of the nation and to keep beautiful places beautiful. 

The National Trust wants  to use an insurance payout intended for the restoration of the Grade I-listed eighteenth-century Clandon Park House after a fire to install an unsympathetic modern scheme instead. I need your help to stop this planning application.

Clandon Park House, a jewel in the crown of the National Trust, was devastated by fire in 2015. After the fire, the National Trust said that the £66 million insurance payout would be used to restore the magnificent baroque interiors to their former glory. 

Now, they have submitted a planning application to keep the charred brick walls stripped of their lavish decoration. The exterior view of the house will be marred by an unsympathetic modern roof with large blocky kiosks and a lift shaft which towers over the old chimneys. Inside, the proportions will be disrupted by intrusive walkways. The insurance money intended for restoration will be wasted on this pointless scheme while craft practitioners will be denied the chance to train the next generation of apprentices. This should have been an ambitious project to rival the triumphant restoration of Windsor Castle or Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Instead, it is to remain a sad ruin with charmless additions which will quickly show their age.

This vision is the wrong one for the house and we need to fight the planning application. To do this, Restore Trust is raising £25,000. Please support them by contributing and please share this page. Go to www.saveourclandon.co.uk to find out how you can help by submitting your own objection to the Guildford Borough Council. The more people object, the more likely we are to stop this damaging scheme from going ahead.

This wonderful house must come back to life. It was not only the heart of a community, but also a national treasure. 

We need to raise £25,000 to enable heritage and planning consultants and solicitors to make the case against this application and to help us oppose it.

I really appreciate it that you are helping us stand up for our heritage. Thank you.