GRAND Tour presenter Richard Hammond wants to build a new storage garage to showcase and protect his collection of luxury cars at his castle home.

An application to Herefordshire Council planners says thieves have stolen tractor parts from the farm at historic Bollitree Castle near Ross-on-Wye, and ‘the Hamster’ needs a more secure space for his valuable motors.

The former Top Gear presenter won permission to redevelop a converted barn at his £2m 20-acre pile earlier this year, including a glass linkway onto a room containing his classic bike collection.

And now he has applied for permission to knock down and rebuild a stable block and put up a new storage building.

A report on behalf of the TV star says: “The owner has a collection of cars and motorcycles which support his work as a motoring journalist.

“Currently these are housed ‘ad hoc’ in the listed barns or in the open courtyard. Secure storage and parking for this collection of vehicles is fundamental to the owner’s needs.“Removal of these vehicles from the listed buildings is also desired so that they can be used domestically.”

It adds: “Currently the estate has no storage outside the domestic curtilage of the house other than the existing stables and a small lean to for hay and feed.

“As there is no storage provision for any farm or equestrian vehicles and their equipment, these are currently left outside, recently leading to the theft of tractor parts.

“The existing stable block of five stables, feed and tack room falls short of the accommodation now required by the owner’s established equestrian pursuit.

“It is not the size of the stables but where they are currently located; access to the paddocks is tenuous and doesn’t facilitate any autonomous access and egress to the paddocks which is essential to the owner’s horses.”

Mr Hammond, who has owned a Jaguar Roadster, a vintage Porsche and Land Rovers, wants 13 secure bays for parking cars and bikes, and the new barn will also house tractors and a combine harvester for farming.

The TV star has already been given the green light to revamp Bollitree Castle’s barn conversion – which already boasts a swimming pool, bar, gym and recording studio – to include five bedrooms and a glazed extension for his bike collection to be viewed in a neighbouring barn.

But a bid to tweak it by adding ensuite facilities to the five bedrooms and change the linkway roof from sloping to flat has run into opposition from Historic England, who have told planners: “The barns form part of the setting of the Grade II-listed building of Bollitree Castle and the new design for the glazed link alters their external appearance to a degree that will impact on the contribution they make to the significance of the castle.”

They claim a flat roof will “raise the eaves and create a more visually intrusive elevation” causing “harm to the aesthetic and architectural value.”

The Grand Tour presenter and his family bought the Grade II-listed castle, which includes a Grade-I listed barn, in Weston under Penyard in 2008.

The main castle building was put up in the 1700s, but parts of the estate are thought to include elements dating back to the 1400s incorporated into a folly.

Wealthy merchant Richard Amerike, a candidate for the naming of America who funded exploration of the new world, is believed to have been born at Bollitree.