HUHNE SLAMS PLANNING INSPECTOR'S DECISION ON ALLBROOK

1.15.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 14th Mar 2008

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne today said that the planning inspector's go-ahead for a development at the Allbrook farmhouse which was once home to England's first woman artist was "spectacularly insensitive and wrong-headed".

The decision by the Government planning inspector to approve the developer's plans for the site was against the wishes of the local council, local residents and all those interested in the artistic heritage of this country, said Mr Huhne.

"Allbrook farmhouse is one of the few remaining buildings that connects Eastleigh back to the civil war period when Mary Beale lived there working as one of the first women artists.

"It is a scandal that the inspector has backed the developers when Mary Beale is an important figure both in our art history and in the history of women's emancipation. Many of her portraits are in public collections up and down the country, and this is a unique opportunity to preserve her home as a site for some of her pictures" said Mr Huhne.

The Eastleigh MP said that he would back campaigners who want to ensure that the planning inspector's decision is reviewed by a judge, because of potential failures in the process. "The Local area committee of the council was very clear in rejecting this scheme, and it should not be overruled in this high-handed way".

"I find it astonishing that this has been pushed through when the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport is still considering whether to raise the listed status of the farmhouse from Grade II to Grade II star in recognition of its artistic and historical significance.

"The proposed development would ruin the setting of the farmhouse, as well as damaging its character in the alterations made to it" said Mr Huhne. "I back local Allbrook residents and the Mary Beale trust all the way in objecting to this scheme".