A BURITON father may be forced to rip down the timber tree-house he built for his two young daughters in his garden because planning officers believe it is "out of place" in a tree. And East Hampshire District Council refused him planning permission on the grounds that it was a "demonstrable harm" to the landscape. But Keith Barnett, who lives at Miscombe Manor, is not giving up without a fight and this week he took his battle to save the tree house to a government planning inspector at a public inquiry in Petersfield. Clive Whitehouse opened the inquiry, scheduled to span two days, on Wednesday morning. Along with the fate of the tree house, Mr Barnett was also asking the inspector to decide whether East Hampshire District Council could force him to demolish a swimming pool house, tennis court and chain- link fence, also in his garden. The battle began when EHDC told Mr Barnett he should have sought planning permission for the developments at Miscombe Manor. When he applied for retrospective planning permissions, he was refused by the council, which later served enforcement notices on him Opening the inquiry, Mr Whitehouse said he believed the main issue at stake was the effect of the change of use of the land on the rural character of the area and the natural beauty of the East Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Clive Newberry, Queen's Counsel appearing for Mr Barnett, stressed that his client had undertaken all the work believing it to be lawful, and he added: "The planning history of the site shows conspicuous adherence to planning laws." He said he believed planning permission should be granted under permitted development rights. The allegation that the tree house, tennis court and swimming pool house harmed the AONB, claimed Mr Newberry, "cannot reasonably be made out". "The notion that those who live in a rural area are not entitled to have a swimming pool or a tennis court is not tenable," said Mr Newberry. Landscape expert Lionel Fanshawe, appearing for Mr Barnett, told the inquiry that the tree house had been put up about five years ago in a mature oak tree in the grounds of Miscombe Manor as a play house for Mr Barnett's six- and eight-year-old daughters. He said EHDC's landscape officer had not objected to Mr Barnet's planning applications, but had consistently suggested that a new line of beech hedge should be planted. This had since been undertaken by Mr Barnett, said Mr Fanshawe. In addition, 30 year-old trees had been planted in front of the tree house, which would eventually provide a thick, woodland canopy screening the development completely from vantage points away from Miscombe Manor. There was also a row of trees in front of the tennis court and lime trees had been planted in the garden. The swimming pool and tennis court could not be seen because they had a horizontal surface. Mr Fanshawe said planning officers had suggested the tree house was "out of place and overwhelms the lower half of the tree, breaking up its natural form". But Mr Fanshawe told the inquiry: "Evidently a tree house cannot be 'out of place' in a tree and both precedent elsewhere, and our visual impact assessment would show that the scale of this one is by no means overwhelming. "In fact, we would most certainly argue that it is a most attractive and well-proportioned structure." He went on to add: "I would further respectfully suggest to the inspector that well- considered features such as the tree house at Miscombe Manor add positive interest to the AONB and proposed South Downs National Park. Perhaps rather more than the smaller, impromptu structures that the joint committee seem to suggest they would be more mindful to permit." Mr Fanshawe concluded that the only one of the developments which could be seen was the tree house "and we would argue that it is a feature of positive interest not without precedent in the English countryside, unharmful to the host tree and attractive in its own right". The garden with the pool and tennis court were an improvement to the degraded farmyard storage area which had been there previously, he claimed.