THE trust fighting to save one of the UK’s most important stately homes from crumbling to ruin took over just in time, government ministers at Downing Street were told.

Wentworth Woodhouse, a Grade I listed Georgian house which once rivalled Blenheim Palace and Chatsworth House, is in a critical state according to the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust which stumped up £7m to take it on in May last year.

On Monday, chairman Julie Kenny revealed the crucial state to guests and government ministers at 11 Downing Street at the launch of plans to restore the house and transform it into a ‘people’s palace’. The trust’s 500-page masterplan aims make it as famous as in its 18th century heyday.

Julie said:“We purchased the site just in time. Significant heritage features were at risk. More than 100 structural surveys and commencement of capital repair works have shown us the extent of the damage, decay and loss caused over many decades. The site is in a very serious state.

“But we have a great team at the Big House, as it is known locally, and our masterplan means we can set about putting right the wrongs of the past years for the future of our local people and communities, the region, and more importantly the nation.”

Urgent repairs to the badly leaking roof are already underway, thanks to the £7.6 million grant awarded in Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Autumn 2016 Statement. But the trust needs about £150million to develop the plan and then focus on the visitor offer. Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Robert Jenrick, who forged the meeting between Julie Kenny and Philip Hammond, was at the event.

He said: “Mr Hammond saw this as a project of national importance, which would benefit South Yorkshire. He also understood it was ‘now or never’. The building was up for sale and in a very poor state. The Chancellor and I are excited by the plans for the future and look forward to seeing them realised in the years ahead.”

The masterplan will create a community-focused stately home attraction which will boost the local economy.

Visitors will be able take ‘hard hat and hi-vis’ tours to see the work taking place and talk to restoration teams. The story of the house will chronicle its days of grandeur, fall into decline and purchase by the trust.

A heritage construction skills training programme will create Wentworth’s own workforce, as it did for 200 years.

State rooms where nobility once slept will be rentable for the night, and holiday homes will be created in the house and stables.

In addition, office and craft spaces will be developed and new cafes and restaurants will be created. Wedding parties, TV and film crews will continue to bring income.

Julie said: “In recent decades the house was fiercely guarded by recent occupants and concealed from the world. One of our priorities is to create a place where everybody feels welcome and can engage with this huge project. Wentworth Woodhouse belongs to us all.”