A petition has been launched to save Kneller Hall as a home for music after the Ministry of Defence announced plans to sell the site for housing.

The Grade II-listed mansion in Kneller Road, Whitton, has been home to the Royal Military School of Music for more than 150 years.

It was one of 12 military sites across the country - including the Army base in Elmwood Avenue, Feltham - which the MoD announced on Monday (January 18) are being put up for sale.

The announcement has sparked a horrified reaction from local councillors, who say losing the music school would be a huge blow to the community.

A petition to keep the school at Kneller Hall was launched by the Liberal Democrats the day after the announcement was made. It already had more than 130 signatures by the following morning.

Members of the Royal Military School of Music performing at West Middlesex Hospital in 2014

Liz Jaeger, Liberal Democrat ward councillor for Whitton, said: "We've enjoyed having them as neighbours for more than 150 years and they do so much for the community. It would be a terrible shame to see them go.

"The school of music is a wonderful thing to have locally. They add so much colour to the area, and there's so much history there. We would be all the poorer if they went."

Ms Jaeger also questioned the site's suitability for housing, pointing out the mansion was on Metropolitan Open Land, which regulations state should only be developed in exceptional circumstances.

She said there was precious little green space in Whitton as it was, and said the area could not afford to lose any more.

Rumours of sale previously quashed

The MoD's announcement came almost exactly a year after former Twickenham MP first raised fears of a sell-off, saying "something fishy is going on".

The MoD quashed the rumours then, saying it had no plans at that time to dispose of the site.

It said on Tuesday it was "streamlining" its estate to raise £500m for defence spending and to support government plans to create 160,000 new homes by 2020.

It said more sites for development would be announced "in due course".

Former Twickenham MP Vince Cable warned in 2015 that there were rumours Kneller Hall would be sold

"Every acre that we can free up will ensure that more people have the opportunity to own their own home," said defence minister Mark Lancaster.

The ministry has not mentioned what would happen to the Royal Military School of Music or the Museum of Army Music if the land is sold.

Kneller Hall was built between 1635 and 1646, according to the petition's founders.

It became home to the music school, which trains musicians for the Army's military bands, after passing into the hands of the War Department in 1857.

Music school granted freedom of the borough of the borough of Richmond

The music school was granted the freedom of Richmond in 2007, and two years ago exercised its right to parade through the borough.

As well as holding summer concerts in its grounds, musicians from the school traditionally perform in Whitton town centre at Christmas and during the St George's Day celebrations.

Alexander Ehmann, councillor for St Margaret's and North Twickenham, said: "The announcement of the sale of Kneller Hall was a total shock to the community and the government plans to sell off our heritage and a key part of our community will be fought every step of the way by the Liberal Democrats."

An MoD spokeswoman said there are currently about 60 staff based at Kneller Hall and 350 working at its Feltham base.

She said they would be moved to alternative sites, which have yet to be decided, as the announcement was about the disposal of sites and not personnel.

She added that the sites would be disposed of within the course of this parliament, which is due to end in May 2020.

You can sign the petition online here.