A trust protecting the work of celebrated architect Edwin Lutyens says plans to split a historic mansion into two apartments should be rejected.

The Lutyens Trust told Bradford Council that proposals for the Grade-II listed property, its cottages and grounds in King’s Road, Ilkley, would have an “unacceptable harmful impact”.

Martin Lutyens, great-nephew of Sir Edwin and chairman of the trust, met the applicants at Heathcote in April, along with the trust’s architectural adviser, Dr Mervyn Miller.

The trust has now sent a number of concerns about the proposals to the Council, in response to a planning application by legal firm Cobbetts LLP.

Dr Miller said: “Heathcote is known internationally as one of the finest ensembles of an Edwin Lutyens house and a Gertrude Jekyll garden, and its gold-standard historic significance deserves appropriate conservation of the highest quality.”

The Lutyens-designed house, dating from 1906, was sold by Ilkley-based company NG Bailey at the end of last year, after being used as offices since 1958.

Read more on this story in tomorrow's Telegraph & Argus