A CONTROVERSIAL housing scheme may have to be demolished following a long-running planning battle that has cost a developer more than £2m.

The future of Aston Court in Lymington has been in doubt since the building was found to be larger than the scheme that had been approved.

Councillors complained that S&H Homes has raised the height of the building by more than two feet and increased the number of bedrooms.

They refused to agree the unauthorised alterations, with one member describing Aston Court as an “abomination”.

Now one of the other companies involved in the project, Poole-based Scott & Lisa McCarthy Limited Liability Partnership, has gone into administration.

Mr McCarthy, whose father helped found the housing company McCarthy & Stone, is reported to have said that his dispute with the council has already cost him about £2.5m.

The council has recently received a proposal to cut the height of the building and reduce the number of bedrooms.

Mr McCarthy’s company is named as the applicant but the plans are understood to have been submitted by the administrators, London-based MCR.

The 14 flats and houses, which are standing empty, might have to be pulled down if the proposal is rejected.

A council spokesman said the scheme aimed to bring the building more into line with the design approved by the authority in 2006.

He added: “Short of total demolition, which would clearly have significant economic implications for the applicant, what’s now proposed is probably the most effective way of trying to resolve the adverse visual impact of the development.”

But people living nearby say they would be happy to see the whole lot pulled down.

A castle-style structure at the front has been dubbed Rapunzel’s Tower after the building in the children’s fairytale by the Brothers Grimm.

The flats and houses tower over a small cottage occupied by pensioner Ann Holt, 70, who has put her home on the market.

“I’m an artist and I need light – but all my windows face Aston Court,” she said.