Plans to knock a hole in a wall outside what was once Romsey’s cottage hospital have caused concern for local historians and conservation groups.

Test Valley Planners have received 24 letters of objections to the application. Opponents include the Town Council, Romsey and Distrct Society and Romsey and District Buildings Preservations Trust.

The building is now 1-3 Birchlands and the occupant of number 1 has applied to create direct pedestrian access onto Greatbridge Road by making a 1.3m wide opening.

The wall, which is not listed, is older than the building itself and is believed to be the original wall to the old orchard in which the hospital was built. The hospital was opened on 1899, as the Jubilee Nursing Home, by Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Beatrice Local historian, Victoria Burbidge, a resident of Birchlands, has tried to dissuade her neighbours from knocking through the old wall. “Despite its chequered past, the main façade of this lovely building has remained virtually unchanged,” she said. “We all accept that modernisation is a necessary part of living in an old house, but that beautiful old wall is an intrinsic part of the hospital’s unique history and there is absolutely no need to knock through it. You only need to compare old photos of the hospital with the building which we know today to see that it simply hasn’t changed.

The application will be debated at next Tuesday’s meeting of TVBC’s Southern Area Planning Committee.