A BURITON house that has been built taller than plans approved by East Hampshire District Council will not be torn down despite protests from councillors.

It was discovered that the house on land next to Keepers Cottage was built 26 centimetres, or 10-and-a-half inches, higher than it should be.

Peter Bradbury, councillor for the Buriton area, said the problem could have been avoided if district council planning staff had the right measuring equipment to check the development.

At a meeting of the south planning sub-committee last Thursday, councillors were asked to approve the extra height.

Objections to the plans had been submitted by neighbours and the parish council.

Mr Bradbury said he had received two months of phone calls from people asking him to do something about the house.

He said: "We kept plans for the house low for a reason, to keep it lower than Keepers Cottage.

"But officers did not have the adequate equipment to go out and measure the building. This leaves us in a pretty poor state because now it has been built.

"I personally don't think this should be let through. We have to do something about this. I am very, very unhappy about it."

He added: "I have dealt with this for two months. I have had phone calls and people contacting me regularly.

"If we had the proper equipment to deal with this we would have been able to stop it from getting so far. I am extremely upset about this.

"This is a question of resources and it is a very important issue that should be considered."

Fellow district councillor for Buriton, Peter Rodgers, agreed with Mr Bradbury but said it may be too late to do anything.

He said: "If action had been taken two months ago, maybe the building could have been reduced.

"I am very angry about what has happened but if we tried to do something I am sure an inspector would say 'it's only 10-and-a-half inches' and throw our decision out."

Council leader Elizabeth Cartwright said a planning inspector would laugh at the district council if it decided to ask for the building to be reconstructed. She said councillors would just have to accept what had happened.

Judy Onslow said a lot of officers' and councillors' time had been wasted on the application.

She said: "I don't know how you could rectify this situation other than to pull the building down."

At a vote councillors decided not to refuse the application for the new height.

A report from planning officers stated it would not cause "any demonstrable harm" to neighbouring properties or have any material effect on the appearance of the building in the street scene.