HAMPSHIRE residents are fuming after planning officers recommended that a house built in the wrong place should stay where it is.

Bumble Cottage in Liberty Road, Newtown, near Wickham, became the centre of a planning wrangle after residents complained it had been built 6ft further forward than originally agreed.

Nearby residents submitted objections to Winchester City Council, stating the house did not conform to the plans and was out of keeping with the area.

There were also concerns that the front driveway was not large enough to allow cars to drive safely out of the property due, to its close proximity to a dangerous bend in the road.

However they were bitterly disappointed when officers decided to recommend approval to the planning committee.

One resident, Javed Ansari, who is worried the large four-bedroom property's windows overlook his home, said: "We are disappointed at the outcome of the council's recommendation."

Winchester City Council leader and ward councillor for Liberty Road, Sheila Campbell, told the Daily Echo the building was "totally unacceptable".

She wants to see it knocked down. But chairman of the site planning sub-committee Councillor Georgina Busher said that, although there were errors that led to the cottage being built in the wrong place, they had no choice but to recommend approval.

Councillors had to make a decision on whether the cottage was sufficiently materially harmful to the area to warrant a refusal.

Cllr Busher said: "We don't think we have enough against it that we can sustain refusal in an appeal."

Developer Gary Jackson, 40, said he had consistently followed the advice of Winchester planners.

He and his partner Erica Siers, 44, plan to move into the property when it is finished.

"This has been horrendous. We've had to stop building for three months," he said. "We've done everything we can to comply with the council."

A final meeting to decide whether the cottage can stay where it is takes place on April 7.